Know the Etymology: 161
Place Name of the Day: Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Kanatta

கனத்த (கானல் அத்தம்)
Kanatta

Kanatta

The patch of little jungle in the elevated ground

Kanatta

Elevated ground, hilly ground, field etc with a little jungle (Sinhala); Kaanal: Forest on a slope of a hill or on a coastal tract (Tamil, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 1418; Thivaakaram lexicon 11:90); Very dry jungle (Malayalam, DED 1418); Kaanam: Woodland, forest tract (Tamil, DED 1418); Jungle (Malayalam DED 1418); Kaa, Kaan, Kaal: Forest, grove, jungle (Tamil, DED 1418); Kaanana: forest (Sanskrit, Prakrit, Sinhala)

Aththam

Arid land with scrub jungle, grassless arid jungle in hard land (Tamil, Changkam diction, Ku’runthokai 41:3, Akanaanoo’ru 3:11); Jungle (Tamil, Changkam diction, Natti’nai 26:6); Expanse of jungle (Tamil, Changkam diction, Akanaanoo’ru, 277: 9-10); Difficult track (Tamil, Changkam diction, Ku’runthokai 174:4); Difficult track in hills (Tamil, Changkam diction, Natti’nai 329: 7-8).

Kanatta is a word that comes alone as well as in combinations in the Sinhala place names.

Kanatta in Sinhala means an elevated ground, hilly ground or field usually with a little jungle.

The closest parallel is the old Tamil usage Kaanal, which among its shades of meanings means a forest on a slope of a hill (DED 1418). Kaanal is a jungle or grove along seashore or on a hill slope, says the old Tamil lexicon Thivaakaram (11:90).

Kaanal means a very dry jungle in Malayalam (DED 1418).

Even though the Sanskrit / Prakrit diction has a word Kaanana for forest, the Dravidian Etymological Dictionary bringing out the root words such as Kaa, Kaan, Kaal etc meaning a grove or forest in Tamil / Malayalam, lists all related words such as Kaanal, Kaanam, Kaanakam etc to Dravidian etymology (DED 1418).

The word formation of Kanatta in Sinhala could possibly be from: 1. Kaan+atta: The jungle side or jungle quarter (atta could mean side or quarter in Sinhala); 2. Kaan+aththam: Aththam in Changkam Tamil has several shades of meaning related to jungle in dry and elevated tracts of land. See table. Locational examples of the occurrence of Kanatta in the Sinhala place names suggest that the word means a patch of dry jungle or scrub jungle in an elevated spot. (See image of Kannate-goda)

Kanatta , located near Borella in Colombo serves today as the common crematorium / cemetery for the people of Colombo city.

Some related place names:




Wara-kanatta: The little jungle in the elevated ground having a shrub Calotropis gigantean or a twining plant Cissampelos hexandra, Kelaniya division, Gampaha district.

Pera-kanatta: The little jungle in the elevated ground having Guava shrub, Wigamuwa division, Matale district

Kanattawa: The elevated ground with a little jungle, Chilaapam division, Puththa’lam district

Kanatta-goda: Also Kanatte-goda: The mound with a little jungle. There is a mound or elevated spot amidst paddy fields that locates the village of Kanatte-goda today. It must have been a little jungle in the past. The village is in Matara Four Gravets division, Matara district. There is a Kanatta-goda in Tangalle also. See Veyangoda for the etymology of Goda.

Kollan-kanatta: The elevated ground having a little jungle of Garcinea or Xanthocymus pictorius. This is a place in the Vilpattu reserved forest.

Thibbatu-kanatta: The elevated ground having a little jungle of the spiny shrub, Solanum indicum, Ambanganga Korale division, Matale district.

Thota-kanatta: The elevated ground or high bank of little jungle at the ferry point, Bentota division, Galle disrict. There is a ferry-point across Bentota Ganga river in this place.



First published: Tuesday, 12 October 2010, 17:21