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Eelam (, ''īḻam'', , also spelled Eezham, Ilam or Izham in English) is the native Tamil name for the South Asian island now known as Sri Lanka. Eelam is also the Tamil name for the spurge (a plant), toddy (an intoxicant) and gold. (Online edition at the University of Chicago)

The exact etymology and the original meaning of the word are not clearly known, and there are number of conflicting theories. The retroflex approximant ''ḻ'' in ''īḻam'' is a characteristic phoneme for Dravidian languages that is now retained only in the closely related languages Tamil and Malayalam. Conventionally, it has been represented in the Latin script by the digraph ''zh''.

History

The earliest use of the word is found in a Tamil-Brahmi inscription as well as in the Sangam literature. The Tirupparankunram inscription found near Madurai in Tamil Nadu and dated on palaeographical grounds to the 1st century BCE, refers to a person as a householder from Eelam (''Eela-kudumpikan''). The inscription reads,

The Sangam literature ''Paṭṭiṉappālai'', mentions ''Eelattu-unavu'' (food from Eelam). One of the prominent Sangam Tamil poets is known as Eelattu Poothanthevanar meaning Poothan-thevan (proper name) hailing from ''Eelam''. (Akanaṉūṟu: 88, 231, 307; Kuṟuntokai: 189, 360, 343; Naṟṟiṇai: 88, 366). The Tamil inscriptions from the Pallava and Chola period dating from 9th century CE link the word with toddy, toddy tapper's quarters (''Eelat-cheri''), tax on toddy tapping (''Eelap-poodchi''), a class of toddy tappers (''Eelath-chanran''). Eelavar is a caste of toddy tappers found in the southern parts of Kerala. ''Eela-kaasu'' and ''Eela-karung-kaasu'' are refers to coinages found in the Chola inscriptions of Parantaka I.

Since the 1980s the words ''Eelam'' and ''Eelavar'' have been taken up by the Tamil separatist movements spearheaded by the Tamil Tigers. Eelavar now refers to the citizens of the proposed Tamil Eelam, which would have taken up the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.

Etymology

Sihala

Late-19th-century linguists took the view that the name ''Eelam'' was derived from the Pali (An Indo-Aryan language) form ''Sihala'' for Sri Lanka. Robert Caldwell, following Hermann Gundert, cites the word as an example of the omission of initial sibilants in the adoption of Indo-Aryan words into Dravidian languages. (Online edition at the University of Chicago) Sri Lankan historian Karthigesu Indrapala in his thesis released in 1965 suggested that the people from whose named Eelam is derived were Sinhalese. The earliest occurrence of the name Eelam is in the Brahmi inscriptions of South India in which it occurs as Ila (Eela), the Prakrit form of the Eelam. He derived Eelam from Sinhala as follows;

Eelam>Sihala

Thomas Burrow, in contrast, argued that the word was likely to have been Dravidian in origin, on the basis that Tamil and Malayalam hardly ever substitute 'ɻ', a peculiarly Dravidian sound, for the Sanskrit -'l'-. He suggested that the name "Eelam" came from the Dravidian word "Eelam" (or Cilam) meaning "toddy", referring to the palm trees in Sri Lanka, what was later absorbed into Indo-Aryan languages. He thought that was also likely to have been the source for the Pali '"Sihala". The Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, which was jointly edited by Thomas Burrow and Murray Emeneau, marks the Indo-Aryan etymology with a question mark.

Karthigesu Indrapala updated his theory in 2005 and claims that ''Eela'', the stem of ''Eelam'', is attested in Sri Lanka for centuries before the common era as a name of an ethnic group and that it eventually came to be applied to the island as ''Eelam''. He also believes that the name of the island was applied to the popular coconut tree or vice versa in Tamil. He believes the early native names for the present Sinhalese ethnic group, such as ''Hela'', are derivations of ''Eela'', which was Prakritized as ''Sihala'' and eventually Sanskritized as ''Simhala'' in the 5th century CE.

Other theories

Peter Schalk, a professor of theology from University of Uppsala, concludes that it is a proper Dravidian word used exclusively for toddy beginning from the common era up until the medieval period..

Another theory based on archeological evidence suggests the word is a Tamil word which originated from South India. Also the Tamil meaning of "Eelam" is postulated to be homeland.

The Tamil lexicons Thivaakaram, Pingkalam and Choodaama'ni, dating from c. 8th century CE, equate the word Eezham with Chingka'lam (the Sinhala country).

Cognate terms

Ancient ethnic group

''Eela'' and ''Eelavar'' are etymologically related to ''Eelam''. The stem ''Eela'' is found in Prakrit inscriptions dated to 2nd century BCE in Sri Lanka in terms such as ''Eela-Barata'' and ''Eela-Naga'', proper names. The meaning of ''Eela'' in these inscriptions is unknown although one could deduce that they are either from ''Eela'', a geographic location, or were an ethnic group known as ''Eela''.

South Indian caste theory

Eelavar in South Indian medieval inscriptions refer to the caste or function of toddy-drawers, drawn from the Dravidian word for palm tree toddy, ''Eelam''. From the 19th century onwards, sources appeared in South India regarding a legendary origin for caste of toddy drawers known as ''Eelavar'' in the state of Kerala. These theories stated that ''Eelavar'' were originally from Eelam. The consciousness of the South Indian Eelavar caste being of Sri Lankan origin is not older than 150–200 years.

References

Further reading

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External links

Detailed etymology of Eelam

{{Portal bar, Tamils, Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Tamil history
Tamil Eelam
Names of Sri Lanka