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TAMIL STUDIES

race before they came in contact with the Aryans. They had and still have their own terms pertaining to agriculture, anatomy, architecture, astronomy, commerce, domestic economy, family relations, fauna and flora, language and literature, medicine, minerals, politics, religion, war, weights and measures, &c., all of course in their primitive stage. நாறு and செய், ஞாயிறு and திங்கள், கை and கால், மாறு and கொள், நெல் and பால், முற்றம் and மச்சு, தாய் and அப்பன், தெங்கு and தாழை, புலி and பூசை, எழுத்து and சொல், பா and திணை, நோ and வலி, வெள்ளி and பொன், இறை, ஊர் and கோ, ஆவி and கடவுள், அம்பு and வில், மா and கழஞ்சு are all pure Tamil words, and they are not to be found in the Sanskrit language. In fact, every word of daily usage is Tamil. To establish any linguistic affinity, at least words denoting the simplest and the most ordinary family relationship must be identical. For example, the words 'father' and 'mother' in English are represented by Pitri and matri in Sanskrit, pater and meter in Greek, pater and mater in Latin, vater and mutter in German, pitar and mater in Zend, and so on. On the other hand, the corresponding relations are expressed in Tamil by appan and tay. This in itself is sufficient to prove that Tamil has no philological affinity with either Sanskrit or any Indo-European tongue.

There are, however, certain words apparently of Tamil origin which may be found in Sanskrit. Dr. Caldwell gives a list of some thirty words which, he