Know the Etymology: 115
Place Name of the Day: Thursday, 05 January 2017

Paṉaṅ-kāṇi

பனங்காணி
Paṉaṅ-kāṇi

Paṉam+kāṇi

The land or landed property having palmyra palms; or the measure of land having palmyra palms

Kāṇi1	landed property, possession, hereditary right (Tamil, DED 1444); property, possession, hereditary right (Kannada, DED 1444); land in general (Tamil, Tēvāram, 3: 110: 5); land as property (Tamil, inscription, 813 CE, SII, xiv, 26); Kāṇi-āḷar: those who have ownership of land (Tamil, inscription, 1090 CE, EI, xxii, 35); Kāṇi-āṭci: inherited ownership of land (Tamil, 1250 CE, IPS, 343); Kāṇik-kaṭaṉ, Kāṇik-kaṭamai: land tax that has to be paid to the State (Tamil, inscriptions, 969 CE, SII, xiii, 236; 926 CE, SII, viii, 668); Kāṇi-veṭṭi: obligatory work done for the owner of a land (Tamil, inscription, 1085 CE, SII, V, 1003); Kāni: a village given on stipulated conditions, "Nindagama" (Sinhala, Bibile usage, Sorata); Kaṇ: eye (Tamil, DED 1159); place, site (Tamil, DED 1161); a locative case suffix (Tamil, Caṅkam diction, Naṟṟiṇai, 117: 9-10, Tolkāppiyam, Col 82); Kāṇ: (verb) to see, consider, investigate, appear, become visible (Tamil, DED 1443);
Kāṇi2	a land measure (Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, DED 1444); a measure of land (Tamil, Tēvāram, Appar, 4: 108); a measure of cultivation land (Tamil, inscription, 772 CE, SII, xiv, 19); a measure, fraction of 1/80, 1/40, 1/64, especially in gold, coinage etc. (Tamil, Kannada, Tulu, Telugu, DED 1444); a fraction of time or space, 1/20 of an estate (Malayalam, DED 1444); Cawney, Cawny: a measure of land in former Madras Presidency, 24 Maṉai of land = 1.322 acre (Anglo-Indian English term traced to Tamil, Hobson Jobson); Kaṇ: eye (Tamil, DED 1159); joint in bamboo, sugar cane etc. (Tamil, DED 1160, Kuṟuntokai, 267: 2-3); Kaṇu: joint in bamboo, sugar cane etc., knuckle, joint in body parts, spine (Tamil, cognates in 12 Dravidian languages, DED 1160); dividing factor (Tamil, Tirumūlar, 2010); Kāṇḍa: single joint of a plant (Sanskrit, probable Dravidian origin noted, CDIAL 3023)
Paṉai	palmyra palm. See column on Paṉai-niṉṟāṉ

Kāṇi commonly means a landed property in Tamil. In old usages it also meant a measure of land, a fraction, a measure of gold and a fraction in money or coinage. In both shades of meaning the word is listed as Dravidian (DED 1444).

Related to the latter meaning, the word has gone into Anglo-Indian English as Cawney/ Cawny, to mean a measure of land equivalent to 1.322 acre (Hobson Jobson).

Related to the first meaning, Kāni in the Bibile usage of Sinhala means a village (Nindagama) given as an endowment with stipulated conditions (Sorata).

Literary and inscriptional usages in both shades of meanings are noticed in Tamil. See boxes above and usage examples below for the etymology of the two shades of meanings.

Kāṇi, commonly used in Eezham Tamil in the meaning of land or landed property, usually comes in land deeds and in locality names. It rarely comes in place names.

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Kaṇ meaning eye:

"கண் பாடு ஒல்லாவே" (குறுந்தொகை, 5: 4-5)

"Kaṇ pāṭu ollavē" (Kuṟuntokai, 5: 4-5)

My eyes are not closing (I am not sleeping)


Kaṇ meaning place:

"இருங் கண் ஞாலம்" (குறுந்தொகை, 267: 1)

"Iruṅ kaṇ ñālam" (Kuṟuntokai, 267: 1)

The big-spaced world


Kaṇ meaning a joint in sugar cane, bamboo etc.

"கரும்பின் கண் இடை அன்ன" (குறுந்தொகை, 180: 3)

"Karumpiṉ kaṇ iṭai aṉṉa" (Kuṟuntokai, 180: 3)

Like the part between the joints in a sugar cane


Kaṇu meaning a dividing joint:

"அணுவுள் அவனும் அவனுள் அணுவும் கணு அற நின்ற கலப்பு" (Thirumoolar, 2010, in some texts 1987)

"Aṇuvuḷ avaṉum avaṉuḷ aṇuvum kaṇu aṟa niṉṟa kalappu" (Tirumūlar, 2010, in some texts 1987

He (God) inside every atom and every atom going into him (God) is a phenomenon of merger that has no dividing joint

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Kāṇi meaning land of possession in general:

"படர் சடையர் காணி எனலாம் …மயிலாடுதுறையே" (சம்பந்தர் தேவாரம், 3: 70: 1)

"Paṭar caṭaiyar kāṇi eṉalām…mayilāṭutuṟaiyē" (Campantar Tēvāram, 3: 70: 1)

Mayilāṭutuṟai (a major township of that time) that could be called as the land of the spread-haired one (God Siva)


Kāṇi meaning landed property:

"அவனுக்குக் காணியாக அட்டின பூமி" (Tamil inscription, 813 CE, SII, xiv, 26)

"Avaṉukkuk kāṇiyāka aṭṭiṉa pūmi" (Tamil inscription, 813 CE, SII, xiv, 26)

The land given to him as property


Kāṇi meaning a measure of land:

"நடுவு கிடந்த நிலன் காணிச் செய்யும்" (Tamil inscription, 772 CE, SII, xiv, 19)

"Naṭuvu kiṭanta nilan kāṇic ceyyum" (Tamil inscription, 772 CE, SII, xiv, 19)

The Kāṇi measure of cultivation land lying in the middle

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Paṉaṅ-kāṇi is noticed as a place name in the northern tip of Neṭun-tīvu (Delft) Island in Jaffna district (Delft One Inch Sheet)

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Revised: Thursday, 05 January 2017, 21:27

First published: Thursday, 01 January 1970, 00:00