Malayalam linguistics question
This is a question in linguistics. Or something. I am hoping that the 3.5 readers of this blog will have some input regarding this.
There I was, on Wikipedia, as usual. On a slightly related tangent, let me just say that Wikipedia provides me an excellent outlet for all this useless knowledge that I have stored up in my head. I mean, there are people there who find comparative linguistics as interesting as I do. Also, where else can I use this absolute gem that I have:
Romulan Disruptor fire is characterized by a high level of residual antiprotons.
On Wikipedia, that is! All those hours of watching Star Trek: The Next Generation totally paid off! Woohoo! (+5 Nerd points. -5 Cool points). Well, anyway, onto my linguistics question. So I was checking out the Malayalam language article on Wikipedia, and noticed this:
A very few people whose Sanskrit names end in “a” are given the plural suffix “-r” rather than normal “n” because they are revered, but this is extremely inconsistent – for example, Shankaracharya becomes Shankaracharyar but Agastya becomes Agastyan.
This sentence has since been removed, because it has no citation. I know the statement to be true, since I am a native speaker of the language, but I have not been able to find any linguistic basis as to why this is so. All I know is that it is extremely inconsistent. One other example I have is Bhishma, which becomes Bishmar in Malayalam. What is even more interesting is that the -r ending on nouns is usually used to pluralize common-gendered nouns. For example, the Malayalam word manushyan (man) is manushyar (men) in the plural. The -r ending might also be a remnant from Tamil, where it is more common.
So anybody have any information (citations would be nice) regarding this?
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I found search of Malayalee in Wiki showed following…..
Malayalee or Malayali (Malayalam: മലയാളി) is the name given to the inhabitants of the state of Kerala. The word Malayali originates from Tamil, Malai meaning Hill and Aali meaning person. Malayalee literally means a person hailing from a Hill Country in Tamil. It is synonymous with the word Keralite.
Can we change this sentence "The word Malayali originates from Tamil, Malai meaning Hill and Aali meaning person. Malayalee literally means a person hailing from a Hill Country in Tamil. "
Is this really correct??
I felt the word "malayalam" is one word meaning "group of hills"..and its combination of " mala + yaalam "not a double word as "malay + allu" ..And person whose mother tongue is malayalam and hails from kerala is a malayalee….Not a person from hill.
Is there anyway to update these details in wiki once IF we found the correct meaning .Probably malayalam word came from tamil/dravidian language but I felt aali means person….I think its either Fire or Group of something…Inthis context its group of hills.
In short I think word "malayalee" is just came as just…not any logical clubbing of words…
[I dnt knw,whtr to post this info
so posting here ]
hi,
what is the malayalam word for salmon and buffalo fish?
Ineed the fire meaning in malayalam( Paryayam)
what is the another name of kuthira(horse)in malayalam.one word is ashwam..give another name?
yeah i wanna know
what do you call salmon in malayalam?
What is the malayalam name of Salmon fish?
i want pariyayam