Know the Etymology: 173
Place Name of the Day: Sunday, 07 January 2018

Mutaliyār-kamam

முதலியார்கமம்
Mutaliyār-kamam

Mutaliyār+kamam

The paddy fields of the chief

Kamam

paddy field (Eezham Tamil); field, a tract of land, farm, "Vayal" (Tamil, Winslow notes provincial usage); Kamak-kāran: a large cultivator, farmer (Tamil, Winslow notes provincial usage and MTL cites Jaffna diction); Kamaṅ-kaṭṭa: to own a farm in cultivation (Tamil, Winslow); Kamat-toḻil, Kama-vēlai: tillage, cultivation (Tamil, Winslow notes provincial usage); Kamam-pulam: lands and fields (Tamil, Winslow); Kama-vāram: a share of the produce of land allowed for the implements loaned for its cultivators (Tamil, Winslow); Kama-vitāṉai: village official attending affairs related to paddy fields (Eezham Tamil, old administrative term); Etymology 1: probably from the relationship between forest and paddy field, Kaman, Khamna: forest (Gondi, DED 1228); Kaman: forest (Pengo, DED 1228); Kamaṇ: forest (Manda, DED 1228); Kamṇa: park, grove, forest (Kuwi, DED 1228); Kamboṛi, Kamboni: forest, jungle (Kui, DED 1228); Kambare: uncultivated ground (Maltese, DED 1228); Kampalai: agricultural tract (old Tamil, DED 1237, Tivākaram, 5: 89); Kampaḷar: inhabitants of an agricultural tract (old Tamil, DED 1237, Tivākaram, 2: 139); Kumari: cultivation in hills (Tamil, DED 1740); Kumari, Kummari: a piece of ground in a jungle on which the trees are cut down and burned, where after it is cultivated for one or two years only (Kannada, DED 1740); Kummēri: forest cultivation (Kannada, DED 1740); Kumērû: a waste land cleared for cultivation (Tulu, DED 1740); Kuṁbura: (singular), Kuṁburu: (plural) paddy field (Sinhala, Clough); wet paddy field, "Goyam vẹvena diya sahita keta" (Sinhala, Sorata); Kuṁburi: = Kuṁbura (Sinhala, Sorata); see column 221 for related verbs; Etymology 2: probably related to bountifulness, Kama: bounty, fullness (Tamil, Caṅkam diction, Kuṟuntokai, 158: 3); Kamam: bounty, fullness (Tamil, Tolkāppiyam, Col. 355; Piṅkalam, 7: 470); Kamata: (singular), Kamat: (plural) threshing floor of a paddy field (Sinhala, Clough); Etymology 3: probably related to word, Kabaḷm: communal work in one man's garden (Kota, DED 1238); Kambaḷa: daily hire or wages (Kannada, DED 1239); feast given in field at transplantation time (Kodagu, DED 1238); Kammāvehi: earns, works (Prakrit, CDIAL 2897); Karman: act, work (Sanskrit, CDIAL 2892); Kamat: work, tilled or cultivated land, "Karmāntaya, Karmāntasthānaya, Goyam maḍina kalaviṭa" (Sinhala, Sorata)

Mutaliyār

an honorific title in Ilaṅkai in colonial times (Eezham Tamil, MTL); title of a native chief or a high-ranking native administrative official in colonial times (Eezham Tamil, Yāḻppāṇa Vaipava Kaumuti, 1918); a caste title of a sect of Vēḷālas, Ceṅkuntar and a sect of Jains in the Tañcāvūr district of Tamil Nadu (Tamil, MTL); Mutali+ār (honorific affix); Mutali: head, chief, religious leader (Tamil, DED 4950, inscription, 1139 CE, ARE, 1932-33, p. 66, Periyapurāṇam, Kaṇṇappanāyaṉār, 766); Mutalimai: chieftainship (Tamil, inscription, 1259 CE, IPS, 361); Mutalit-taram: village-chief position (Tamil, inscription, 1131 CE, SII, xiv, 226); Mudali: chief, chief official, "Pradhānayā, Pradhāna niladhāriyā" (Sinhala, Sorata); Mutal: beginning, first as in rank, place etc., one who is first or oldest, that which is superior, principal, capital (Tamil, DED 4950); cognates in 11 Dravidian languages; Muntu: (verb) to come in front, take the lead, be first (Tamil, DED 5020a); Muṉ: in front (Tamil, DED 5020a); cognates in 17 Dravidian languages including Brahui

Kamam is a commonly used Eezham Tamil word for a paddy field. The word is not found in Tamil Nadu usages. In Sinhala, there is a term Kamata, used in related senses of meaning. See box on Kamam above on the etymological possibilities.

Mutaliyār and Mutali in Tamil basically mean a chief. Sinhala has a cognate Mudali meaning the same. The terms are related to the noun Mutal and to the verbs Muntu and Muṉ in Tamil/ Dravidian. See box on Mutaliyār above.

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Mutaliyār-kamam is a place in Manthai West division of Mannar district

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Some related place names:

Paṟaṅki-kamam: Manthai West, Mannar

Paḷḷak-kamam: Nanaddan, Mannar

Ciṟu-kamam: Nanaddan, Mannar

Ciṉṉak-kamam: Nanaddan, Mannar

Putuk-kamam: Mannar Town, Mannar

Paḻaiya-kamam: Kandavalai, Kilinochchi

Kēraṉ-kamam: (V. Almanac, 2013-14, p. 100)

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Revised: Sunday, 07 January 2018, 18:30

First published: Thursday, 09 December 2010, 02:45