In the early
posts in this blog we discussed some of the strange sounding words-especially
village names- still surviving in Tulu language. Upon perspective analyses
eventually we were able to decipher that most of such odd sounding place names
are derivatives of non-Dravidian languages and can be traced back to
Austro-Asiatic Munda and Prakrit
languages.
The
existence of ancient words of non- Dravida origin in Tulu language implies the
nature of complex heritage inherited during the ancient periods in the West
coastal regions, later on during the history described as Tulunadu. In other
words, the heritage of Tulunadu has enriched by contributions from Prakrit and Munda cultures during the early history.
A shortest place name
The study of
village names has many quite interesting facets as we have explored in some of
our previous blog posts. Interesting to note is the fact that some of these place
names are very short words.
Which is the
shortest place name in India, any idea?
A perusal
into the list of villages compiled for the Census of India 2011 reveals that
the shortest village name in India is: Au.
There are at
least two villages in India that still
carry the name of Au as a place name. (I have used the word “still” in the
previous sentence under the conviction that most of the original place names
have undergone changes with time due to different reasons.)
(1) Au, Attara
Taluk , Banda district, Uttar Pradesh.
(2) Au, Deeg
Taluk , Bharatpur district, Rajasthan.
Meaning of the place name: Au
One of the
interesting point is that Au is a compounded vowel made up of combination of two
simple vowels: ‘ah ‘and ‘uh’. That is: ah+uh=au.
It is
possible that the shortest word for
place Au is from the ancient Prakrit
language or any of its precursor languages of India. In the absence of adequate linguistic data for
those obscure and forgotten days of antiquity, we are unable to trace the
origin and whereabouts of the antique word: Au. However, the word ‘Au’ does exists currently in Sanskrit,
where it has several meanings, among which the one applicable to place names is:
the land or the earth (feminine gender). Other meanings attributed to the word
Au in Sanskrit are: Vishnu, Adishesha or sound (masculine gender), may be
regarded as later homonyms that appear unsuitable as a place name at this
juncture.
Significance of the shortest place name
It is
possible that place names evolved from simplest to more complex ones with the
passage of time along the historical timeline. Early human beings apparently
used very simple sounds to represent objects, places, and other items that
required naming. It is possible that simple place names like Au were abundant
during early part of the history and later on more complex words were formed
and used.
**
Do you have additional information on any of the short village names? You are welcome to share your knowledge with us in this blog.
**
Do you have additional information on any of the short village names? You are welcome to share your knowledge with us in this blog.
R
