Know the Etymology: 129
Place Name of the Day: Thursday, 05 October 2017

Uvari, Uvar-malai, Omarik-kaḷappu/ Umarik-kaḷappu, Cavarōṭai

உவரி, உவர்மலை, ஒமரிக்களப்பு/ உமரிக்களப்பு, சவரோடை
Uvari, Uvar-malai, Omarik-kaḷappu/ Umarik-kaḷappu, Cavarōṭai

Uvari
Uvar+malai
Omari+kaḷappu/ Umari+kaḷappu
Cavar+ōṭai

The brackish water-source or the saline land

The hillock of brackish soil or of fuller's earth

The backwater in the area of Umari herbs or the backwater found with Umari snails

The brackish pond or watercourse

Uvar	(noun) salt, brackishness, brackish soil, fuller's earth, saline land; (verb) to taste saltish, be brackish, taste astringent (Tamil, DED 2674b, Naṟṟiṇai, 84: 8; 138: 1; Akanāṉūṟu, 79: 3; Periyapurāṇam, 3769; inscription, 1008 CE, EI, xxii, 34); cognates in 11 Dravidian languages; related to Uppu: salt, alkali, saltness (Tamil, DED 2674a, Kuṟuntokai, 165: 3-4); Umaṇ: related to salt, salt-trade, salt-caravan etc. (Tamil, Kuṟuntokai, 388: 4; Akanāṉūṟu, 119: 8); Umaṇar: salt producers, salt traders (Tamil, DED 2674a, Kuṟuntokai, 124: 1-2). Note the V/ P/ M changes. See column 53 on Ūri and also see column 458 on Uppu-related place names
Uvari1	brackish water (Tamil, DED 2674b, Perumpāṇāṟṟuppaṭai, 97-98); sea (Tamil, DED 2674b, Tirukkuṟaḷ, 77: 3). See box on Uvar.
Uvari2	saline land (Tamil, inscription, 792 CE, EI, xviii, 14). See boxes on Uvar and Uvari 1
Omari1	from Umari, Umiri: a kind of delicate brittle herb, salty in taste, growing in sandy soils, which are occasionally over-flowed by the sea; it is used for pickles, Salicornia indica (Tamil, Winslow); marsh samphire, Salicornia brachiata (Tamil, DED 634); Umari: a kind of coastal herb, which is an edible green in the food culture of coastal folk (Tamil, Murukanantham, 1990, p. 45); Salicornia (Malayalam, DED 634); Kāṭṭumari, Ciṟṟumari, Nilavumari, Pērumari, Nīrumari: varieties of Umari (Tamil, Winslow); either from the salty taste of the herb or from its saline soil habitat; Uvar: salt, brackishness, brackish soil (Tamil, DED 2674b, V/ P/ M change as seen in the words, Uvar, Uppu > Umaṇ: DED 2674a, see box on Uvar); Ovar, Ovor: salt (Gondi, DED 2674b; note the U/ O change)
Omari 2	from Umari: a kind of snail (Tamil, Winslow); Umarik-kācu: cowries, shells used as money (Tamil, MTL); from brackish water/ sea habitat; Uvari: brackish water, sea (Tamil, 2674b)
Omari3	suffix as in the place name Periya-omari (either a variation of Uvari meaning saline land/ brackish water; or the place name has lost its suffix such as Kaḷappu etc). See Omari I and 2, and Uvari 1 and 2
Cavar	brackishness (Tamil, DED 2386); barren land, unproductive land (Tamil, MTL, Piṅkalam, 4: 131); astringent (Malayalam, DED 2386); Cavaḷu: brackish, saline (Tulu, DED 2386); brackishness (Kannada, DED 2386); Cavaṭu: fuller's earth, earth impregnated with soda, alkaline soil (Tamil, DED 2386); Cavark-kāram: soap (Tamil, probably from Cavar meaning soda)
Malai	hill (Tamil, DED 4742). See column 19
Kaḷappu	lagoon, backwater, saltpan (Eezham Tamil place names); shallow part of the sea (Tamil, DED 1359); related to Kaḻi: backwater, shallow-sea waters, salt river, marsh, saltpan (Tamil, DED 1359). See columns, 127 and 129
Ōṭai	pond, watercourse (Tamil, DED 1041). See column 002

Uvar, Uppu and Umaṇ are related terms in Tamil/ Dravidian, showing the V/ P/ M variation. They are all related to salt in meaning and the term Uvar has both verb and noun usages.

Omari/ Umari is an edible herb that has got its name because of its salty taste or because of its saline land habitat. Umari also means a sea snail or cowrie.

Cavar is another Tamil/ Dravidian term related to brakishness.

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Uvar meaning salt:

"உவர் எழு களரி" (நற்றிணை, 84: 8)

"Uvar eḻu kaḷari" (Naṟṟiṇai, 84: 8)

The salt-sprayed saline, desert land


Uvar meaning fuller's earth:

"உவரின் பொதி சுமந்து ஓர் வண்ணான்" (பெரியபுராணம், 3769)

"Uvariṉ poti cumantu ōr vaṇṇāṉ" (Periyapurāṇam, 3769)

A washerman carrying on his head a bag of fuller's earth


Uvari meaning saline land:

"உவரியும் ஊர்ப் பாழும்" (Tamil inscription, 792 CE, EI, xviii, 14)

"Uvariyum ūrp pāḻum" (Tamil inscription, 792 CE, EI, xviii, 14)

The saline land and the wasteland of the village


Uvari meaning brackish water:

"நெடுங் கிணற்று வல் ஊற்று உவரி" (பெரும்பாணாற்றுப்படை, 97-98)

"Neṭuṅ kiṇaṟṟu val ūṟṟu uvari" (Perumpāṇāṟṟuppaṭai, 97-98)

The hardly oozing out brackish water in the deep well


Umaṇ related to salt:

"உமண் எருத்து ஒழுகைத் தோடு" (குறுந்தொகை, 388: 4)

"Umaṇ eruttu oḻukait tōṭu" (Kuṟuntokai, 388: 4)

Caravan of salt-laden bullock carts


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Usage of Cavar:

"களரும் சவரும் விளையா நிலமே" (பிங்கலம், 4: 131)

"Kaḷarum cavarum viḷaiyā nilamē" (Piṅkalam, 4: 131)

Kaḷar and Cavar are unproductive land


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Uvari is a place in Mannar Town division of Mannar district. It comes as a locality name in Kaitaṭi in Thenmaradchi division of Jaffna district (Balasundaram, p. 341)

Uvar-malai is in Trincomalee Town and Gravets division of Trincomalee district (V. Almanac, 2013-14, p. 94)

Omarik-kaḷappu is the name of a backwater in Tirukkōvil division of Ampārai district (Pottuvil OIS)

Cavarōṭai is a locality name in Ēḻālai in Valikamam South division of Jaffna district (Balasundaram, p. 205)

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Some related place names:

Uvari:

Uvarip-pilavu: Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaithheevu

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Umari:

Umarik-kāṭụ: a locality near Pālam-pōṭṭa-āṟu, Trincomalee; the temple deity in this place is known as Umarik-kāṭṭup-piḷḷaiyār (Saravanabhavan, p. 104). Kāṭu: thicket, dense growth of herbs in this context

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Omari:

Periya-omari: a marshy and brackish water place used for prawn culture by the side of Muntal Lagoon; Uṭaippu/ Uḍappu, Cilāpam (Chilaw), Puttalam (Battaluoya MS)

Periya-omariya: Sinhalicised form of Periya-omari, found in maps and official records. See Periya-omari

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Cavar:

Cavar-āṟu: a branch of Uppu-āṟu in Kiṇṇiyā, Trincomalee (Trincomalee OIS)

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Notes on Umari herb:

Umari is an herb that grows in abundance in the coastal areas on marine clays or on marine clays covered with a thin layer of sand. Thus, it can be found mostly on the mud flats along the lagoon coasts, salt marshes and shallow seacoasts.

The botanical synonyms of this halophyte of the Chenopodiaceae family are: Salicornia indica, Salicornia brachiata, Salicornia fruiticosa, Salicornia australasica, Halosarcia indica and Arthronenum indicum. 

In Tamil, Pavaḷap-pūṇṭu (literally meaning coral herb) and Koḷḷiyam (literally meaning firebrand), are synonyms of Umari (MTL)

Winslow's Tamil dictionary lists the varieties of the plant as, Kāṭṭumari (jungle Umari), Chiṟṟumari (small Umari), Pērumari (big Umari), Nilavumari (land Umari) and Nīrumari (water Umari). Marsh samphire is the common English name for this plant, found distributed in the tropical coastal tracts around the Indian Ocean.

The plant branches up to 30 cm and is made of superimposed segments, looking leafless. The juicy and salty branches are fodder for cattle and are also cooked as a vegetable. It is also pickled (Winslow).

It is a traditionally recognized medicinal herb and is recognized as a commercially important crop nowadays.

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Revised: Friday, 05 October 2017, 18:30

First published: Friday, 17 April 2009, 02:10