According to Prof. Whitney changes in the growth of a language may take the following forms :—
1. Alteration of the old materials of language, which may be either change in form, or change in meaning. A word may change its form to any extent without change of meaning ; in Tamil கற்பு and கல்வி mean learning; துண்டு and துண்டம், a piece; நா and நாக்கு, the tongue, &c. It may take on an entirely new meaning without the change of form, as in அடுப்பு which formerly meant 'withering' as well as the 'hearth', but now only the latter ; ஆடு was 'sheep' and ' victory' in old Tamil, but now only the 'sheep’; தொடை was the body and now the 'thigh’; கிழக்கு was a 'pit' and now the east', &c.
II. Loss of the old materials of language. It may be a loss of complete words or a loss of grammatical forms and distinctions. There are many Tamil words which are not used by modern authors, so freely as the ancients did, though they have co down to us in poetical dictionaries. These words may therefore be said to be practically dead to the present Tamilians. But yet, there are other kinds of words such as the revenue terms like சில்வரி, இளவரி, சின்னம், முள்ளடி, கார்த்திகைப்பச்சை, &c., words signifying certain social customs, such as முதுமக்கட்தாழி, கும்மாயம், கறிதுமித்தல், &c. the exact meanings of which are now lost. Thus with the change of customs and political institutions, those words went out of the people's memory and were for a practical purposes lost. As for the loss of grammatical forms, we may find
