Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
It is also classified as being part of a Tamil language family that, alongside Tamil proper, includes the languages of about 35 ethno-linguistic groups [26] such as the Irula and Yerukula languages (see SIL Ethnologue). The closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam; the two began diverging around the 9th century CE. [27]
Tamil-Brahmi, also known as Tamili or Damili, was a variant of the Brahmi script in southern India. It was used to write inscriptions in Old Tamil.The Tamil-Brahmi script has been paleographically and stratigraphically dated between the third century BCE and the first century CE, and it constitutes the earliest known writing system evidenced in many parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh ...
Tamil is derived from the name of the language. [11] The people are referred to as Tamiḻar in Tamil language, which is etymologically linked to the name of the language. [12] The origin and precise etymology of the word Tamil is unclear with multiple theories attested to it. [13]
The Dravidian Languages. Routledge. pp. 75– 99. ISBN 978-0-415-10023-6. Mahadevan, Iravatham (2003). Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. Harvard Oriental Series vol. 62. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01227-1. Meenakshisundaran, TP (1965). A history of Tamil language. Poona: Linguistic Society of ...
Medieval Tamil guilds and trading organisations like the Ayyavole and Manigramam played an important role in the southeast Asia trade. [31] Traders and religious leaders travelled to southeast Asia and played an important role in the cultural Indianisation of the region.
Old Tamil is the period of the Tamil language spanning from the 3rd century BCE to the seventh century CE. [4] [5] Prior to Old Tamil, the period of Tamil linguistic development is termed as Proto-Tamil. After the Old Tamil period, Tamil becomes Middle Tamil. The earliest records in Old Tamil are inscriptions from between the 3rd and 1st ...
It has preserved several ancient features, remaining more consistent with the literary norm, while at the same time developing a few innovations. It also has its own distinctive vocabulary and retains words that are unique to present-day Malayalam, a Dravidian language from Kerala that originated as a dialect of old Tamil around 9th century CE.
Tamil written in Tamil script. Tamil people speak Tamil, which belongs to the Dravidian languages and is one of the oldest classical languages. [22] [23] [24] According to epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan, the rudimentary Tamil Brahmi script originated in South India in the 3rd century BCE.