Saturday, February 17, 2007

2. Traces of Tulu -Kannada-Dravida words in early Sumerian language

Sumerian civilization flourished about 3500 to 2000 BC in the Mesopotamia region of northern Africa and Asia Minor, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. John A.Halloran has reconstructed the Sumerican lexicon and its version 3 is available in the internet.Sumerian language was considered to the spoken and written language in what is now the southern Iraq, during the period 3400 to 1800BC.

Some of the words cited in Halloran's Sumerian lexicon have similar words in Tulu and other Dravidan languages.

Infact, origin of the word Tulu has been disputed for long.It is considered to represent something connected with water. 1.Tuluku (verb) in Kannada means to swish or oscillate or overflow (like water). 2.Tuluve in Tulu also means soft fruit especially refers to ripened soft watery jack fruits.

In the Sumerian lexicon the following entries are found:

1.Tul = public fountain, cistern, lowland or well .
Tu=wash , bath.(ie. activity connected with water)

2.Tu-lu = to make loose or limp.

(Numbers 1, 2 ..shown for relevant comparisons)

Ur or Uru (=city) was a major city during Sumerian civilizatin times. The word Uru or Ooru ( village or township) has got into almost all Dravidan languages including Tulu.Possibly the the name of the once famous Sumerian city was extended to all civilized settlements later on.It is a common suffix now in most of the place names in southern India. Mangalur,Bengalur,Mundkur,Arialur,Trichur,Gudur etc.

Possibly, the suffix -ur became -pur or -pura in Sanskrit. Jaipur,Udaipur,Mathura,Nagpur, Shivpura, etc.

There are also other Sumerian/Dravidian words sharing similar sounding verb -ur. Sumerian
Uru (2) (= firewood.) has similar words in Tulu, Kannada (Uri- is to burn) and other Dravidian languages. Similarly, Sumerian Uru (3)(=to till or grow) has Urpini/Ulpini (Tulu), Ulu(=to till) in Kannada.

One of the numbers,"five" in Sumerian was Ia or i (=five).It is ain in Tulu and aidu in Kannada.

Sig(=sun burnt clay tiles) has analogous Sike or seke (=sunny sultriness) and Sigadi (=fire place/oven) in Tulu and Kannada.

There may be more such analogous words in Sumerian and Tulu/Kannada/Dravidian languages.

The analogy is cited here to suggest that some early Tulu,Kannada and other Dravidian tribes might have migrated from Sumerian region to India.


4 comments:

  1. Sumerian is considered language isolate. Why not envisage situation where Dravidian languages local to South Asia. The Sumerian words made their way into the languages just as Indo-Aryan words. Let us say this happened before any branching of Proto-Dravidian language.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Manjunath:
    Dravidian languages and their later evolution are definitely local to South Asia after a certain date. But before that specific time it is logical and possible that they have an origin elsewhere. Anthropologists have proposed that early man (especially the dark one -?)originated in Africa and his tribes migrated to several parts of the world.This is only an extension of the theory.As you rightly suggested, Sumerian words made their way into other languages because of the migration of people from Sumerian region outwards.Right?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ravi:
    Sorry for the long response.

    The Out of Africa theory in fact tells us that not only Dark all people Europeans to Chinese migrated from Africa. The recent Genetic studies have supported that theory. However, there is also a possibility that archaic hominids (also migrated out of Africa before our species, Homo Sapiens) might have interbred with our species and there could be small genetic contribution from them. The light skin of Europeans and Chinese was a much later adaptation but heavily selected in the last 10000 years.

    The theories based on skin colour are not really reliable simply because skin colour does not determine "races".

    Sumerian words made their way into other languages because of the migration of people from Sumerian region outwards.

    Yes. As you know linguistic family is determined by the structure of a language and not from the words. It is said that Brahui has only 15% of Dravidian vocabulary but its structure(grammar etc...) is Dravidian. In my opinion, there could be few Sumerians who assimilated with Dravidians in India and influenced the language. But that will not give Dravidians any Sumerian identity. The North Dravidians langauges (Kurukh and Malto) are exclusively spoken by tribes. Probably, Central too. According to Genetics all these tribes carry the oldest lineages of India(which are also present in the caste population too). Considering these it is difficult to believe Dravdians might have originated outside South Asia.

    I believe all linguistic studies must include both archeologicl and genetics findings.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Manjunath
    Yes I have read about the out of Africa migration theory and also recent Rosenberg studies and the human migration routes mapped.
    These do not suggest that Dravidian originated independantly within Indian subcontinent.I am not invoking any exclusive Sumerian identity to Dravidians but extending the migration theory to trace and outline evolution of our languages.Besides reference to Sumerian words is because of the studies already made in those lines.I am also not sure,because lack of data, apart from Sumerian if other proximal proto-Semetic languages influenced our own current native languages in the beginning,some 4000 years ago.Nobody now precisely can prove that what Sumerians and early civilizations actually spoke in those bygone days.
    It is inevitable that certain amount of speculation peppers even in any scientific studies.
    Regarding the "dark men" I referred to jokingly,it is only my personal view on human evolution. I was just thinking since years if dark and light skinned men could have evolved independantly.
    I am aware that current anthropological studies have suggested that homo sapiens evolved in Africa and subsequently migrated to different parts of the world and that white skinned humans evolved by albinism. What plagues my mind is why white melanin deficient humans were restricted to Europe and North America?
    Well there are many unanswered questions yet! That's why we blog and discuss,no?

    ReplyDelete

Blog Archive

Books for Reference

  • A Comparative Study of Tulu Dialects By Dr. Padmanabha Kekunnaya. Govinda Pai Reserach Centre, UDupi. 1994
  • Koti Chennaya: Janapadiya Adhyayana. By Dr. Vamana Nandavar. Hemanshu Prakashana ,Mangalore.2001.
  • Male kudiyaru. Dr B. A.Viveka Rai and D.Yadupathi Gowda, Mangalore University,1996.
  • Mogaveera Samskriti By Venkataraja Punimchattaya. Karnataka Sahitya Academy.1993.
  • Mugeraru:Jananga Janapada Adhyayana. By Dr Abhaya Kumar Kaukradi.Kannada & Culture Directorate,Bangalore & Karnataka Tulu Academy, Mangalore,1997.
  • Puttubalakeya Pad-danagalu. Ed: Dr B.A.Viveka Rai,Yadupati Gowda and Rajashri, Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara Tulu Peeta. Mangalore University.2004
  • Se'erige. Ed:Dr K.Chinnapa Gowda.Madipu Prakashana,Mangalagangotri,2000.
  • Studies in Tuluva History and Culture.by Dr P Gururaja Bhat (1975).Milagres College,Kallinapur,Udupi.
  • Taulava Sanskriti by Dr.B.A.Viveka Rai, Sahyadri Prakashana,Mysore 1977
  • TuLu naaDu-nuDi By Dr.PalthaDi Ramakrishna Achar, Puttur.
  • TuLu NighanTu. (Editor in Chief: Dr U.P.Upadhyaya, Govinda Pai Research Centre,Udupi. Six volumes. 1988 to 1997
  • Tulu Patero-A Philology & Grammar of Tulu Language by Budhananda Shivalli.2004.Mandira Prakashana Mangalore. p.317. (The book is in Tulu Language using Kannada script)
  • TuLunadina ShasanagaLa Sanskritika Adhyayana. By Shaila T. Verma (2002) Jnanodaya Prakashana,Bangalore, p.304.(Kannada)
  • Tuluvala Baliyendre. Compiled by N.A.Sheenappa Hegde,Polali,Sri Devi Prakashana,Parkala,1929/1999

A Coastal estuary

A Coastal estuary
Holegadde near Honavar,Uttara Kannada dist, Karnataka

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