The Mangulam inscription of 2nd century BC uses the Prakrit ‘Siri’ as in "Nanta-siri". Is that of interest to you? See pp. 314-319 of 'Early Tamil Epigraph' by Iravatham Mahadevan, Harvard Oriental Series, vol. 62, 2003.

While normally one would expect the honorific to be in front of the names, there are Malayalam titles such as Nampūtiri, Bhaṭṭatiri, etc., which are explained as having the tadbhava form of Śrī at the end.

Was something like this prevalent in the north?

Regards,
Palaniappan


On Apr 13, 2015, at 3:59 PM, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh@umich.edu> wrote:

Hello Harry,

     Here is the bibliographic reference to one of my old articles:

1993. "Inscriptional Evidence for Honorific Śrī in Indo-Aryan."  In Perspectives in Indian Aesthetics and Literature, Essays in Honour of the Late Prof. Dr. G. K. Bhat, edited by Saroj Deshpande and Maneesha Dikshit.  Pp. 254-278.  Pune, India: Dastane Ramchandra & Co.    

    I don't have a ready pdf of this publication, but if you don't have access to this  book, I can hunt for my copy of it.

Madhav Deshpande

On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 4:45 PM, Harry Spier <hspier.muktabodha@gmail.com> wrote:
Can any list members give me the bibliographic information of any indological articles on the history and use of "śrī" as a honorific or title of respect. Or better yet send me a pdf of any such articles.

Many thanks,
Harry Spier 

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Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
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