Dear list members,

A colleague has asked me to translate for her a handwritten early 19th-century Tamil document from Ceylon containing a petition concerning the ownership of two slaves (ciṟai). There is one phrase, occurring no fewer than three times, which I fail to understand. I hope any of you might be able to help me.

The slaves were owned by the two petitioners’ grandfather. After the latter’s death they were “used” (aṉupavi-) by his daughter and her brothers. After that things went wrong. Note that the scribe writes e/o for ē/ō.

 “When, while we, your humble servants (aṭiyāl̥um), were out of town, the slaves (ciṟaikal̥e) were finishing …. for the government” (or: " they [the new 'owners'] were finishing ... for the goverment using the slaves they were enjoying the use of") (ciṟaikal̥e aṭiyāl̥um ūrile illāta vel̥eyil kovaṟṇamentukkaṭṭal̥e ciṟaic ceṭuttu pikkāci muṭikkiṟapotu), they were without our knowledge made to finish …. for three persons from the temple in Karaveddy” (eṅkal̥ aṟiyakkoṭāmal karaveṭṭi … ampalavar [name] perukkum [name] perukkum [name] perukkuñ ceṭuttu pikkāci muṭippittuppoṭṭāl̥) (or: "they caused the slaves to finish"). Due to all this the question of who owns the said slaves has become an issue: “we or those who now….” (āṉatiṉāl collappaṭṭa ciṟaikal̥e eṅkal̥ukkuṭaiyato allatu ippo ceṭuttu pikkāci muṭittirukkiṟavarkal̥ukkurimaiyāṉato veṉṟu).

So far, I have been unable to make sense of the verb/absolutive ceṭuttu and the word pikkāci. The analysis of ciṟaicceṭuttu as ciṟaiccu/ciṟaittu + eṭuttu is precluded by ...perukkuñ ceṭuttu. The verb is ceṭuttu. As to pikkāci, there is a word in Tamil (Telugu) pikku, but what to do with āci then?

With kind regards, Herman