Know the Etymology: 294
Place Name of the Day: Monday, 30 September 2013

Seeni-pælla, Seeni-pura

ஸீனிபெ[æ]ல்ல, ஸீனிபுர
Sīnipella,
Sīnipura

Seeni+pælla
Seeni+pura

The hamlet or group of huts in the locality of Seeniya shrubs.
The sugar (manufacturing) town

Pæl	(plural), Pæla (singular): Small hut, kind of raised platform used when watching the rice fields, hut, shed, hovel (Sinhala); Pæl-waadiya: Small hut or shed, temporary residence, name of village (Sinhala); Palli: Hut, village (Telugu, DED 4018); Pa’l’li: Settlement, abode, hamlet, village (Kannada, DED 4018); Hut, small settlement of jungle tribes (Malayalam DED 4018); Hamlet, herdsmen’s village, sleeping place (Tamil, DED 4018). CDIAL 7972 traces Pallee in Sanskrit, Palli in Prakrit and related cognates to Dravidian.
Seeni	Sugar (Sinhala); Cheeni: Sugar (Tamil); See, Seeyi, Siyyane, Sihi: Sweet (Kannada, DED 3268a); See, Seepe, Teepe: Sweet, sweetness (Tulu, DED 3268a); Theem: Sweet (Tamil, DED 3268a); Theeyana: Sweet (Telugu, DED 3268a); Henu: Sweetness (Kuwi, DED 3268a); Thean: Honey (Tamil, Malayalam, DED 3268b); Jean, Jeanu, Teanu: Honey (Kannada, DED 3268b); Jeeni: Alternative spelling for Cheeni (Tamil); Cheeni: An item of Chinese origin (Madras Tamil Lexicon)
Seeniya	Thorny shrub, Acacia farnesiana (Sinhala). The shrub is commonly known in English as Sweet Acacia, because of its candy-smelling flowers used in perfume industry. The flowers attract bees and butterflies.

Pælla as a place name component in Sinhala literally means a group of huts, i.e., a small hamlet.

Pæla in Sinhala means a hut or shed and Pæl is the plural form. Pæla also means a watch-hut on a raised platform in the paddy fields. Pæl-waadiya is a hut, shed, temporary residence as well as a name of village.

The Sinhala words closely correspond to Palli in Telugu, meaning a hut or village, which in turn corresponds to Pa’l’li in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada, meaning a hamlet, abode, small settlement in jungle, herdsmen’s village, sleeping place etc. The words are of Dravidian etymology (DED 4018). Sanskrit and Prakrit have related words such as Pallee and Palli, but A Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages traces them to Dravidian (CDIAL 7972).

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Seeni in Sinhala and Cheeni in Tamil generally mean sugar, especially the white candied sugar produced from sugarcane.

Madras Tamil Lexicon (MTL) compares Cheeni with a similar word in Urdu and suggests that white candied sugar was probably introduced from China and hence the name Cheeni.

Old Sanskrit and Tamil diction has the following words for sugar-cane produces: Vellam for jaggery/ sugar (Tamil, DED 5494); Karuppaddi (Karumpu-addi) for jaggery (Tamil, DED 1298); Kannal for sugar candy (Tamil, DED 1414), Ayir for candied and sand-like sugar (Tamil, DED 341); Khandu for candied sugar (Sanskrit, CDIAL 3800), Guda for raw sugar (Sanskrit, CDIAL 4182) and Sarkaraa for jaggery/ sugar (Sanskrit, CDIAL 12338)

The word Cheeni, in the meaning of white sugar, is not found used in Sanskrit or old Tamil literature.

However, there is a host of words meaning sweet and sweetness in the Dravidian diction (DED 3268) that could be considered as cognates of Cheeni.

Siyyane meaning sweet in Kannada, Henu meaning sweetness in Kuwi, Theeyana meaning sweet in Telugu, Thean meaning honey in Tamil, Jeanu meaning honey in Kannada and Jeeni being an alternative spelling for Cheeni in Brahmanical Tamil are some relevant examples (note the S/ H/ J/ T changes).

Cheeni, therefore, need not necessarily mean that white sugar gained that name because it was an introduced produce from China.

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Except for a few recent place names related to sugar factories, in all the other instances of place names in the island Seeni means a thorny shrub, Acacia farnesiana, called Seeniya in Sinhala.

Obviously, Seeniya gained the name from its puff, ball-like, deep yellow flowers that have the fragrance of sugar candy. Attracted by honey and fragrance, bees and butterflies throng the shrub that is in bloom almost all the year round. The flowers are also used in traditional perfume industries elsewhere. The common English name of the shrub is Sweet Acacia.

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Seeni-pælla is a village in Mulatiyana division of Matara district.

Seeni-pura is in Kantha’laay (Kantalai) division of Trincomalee district. It is a recent place name that came with the sugar factory in that place

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Some related place names:

Pælla:

Kaanam-pella: The hamlet of the forest; Hanwella division, Colombo district. Kaanam-pælla is a village adjacent to the Kaanam-pælla forest reserve also called the Koskanda forest. Kaanana: Forest, grove (Sinhala); Kaa, Kaal, Kaan, Kaanam, Kaanakam, Kaanal, Kaavam: Forest, jungle, woodland, grove etc (Tamil, DED 1418)

Madam-pella: The hamlet in the locality of Maadam trees; Hanwella division, Colombo district. Maadam, Mahadang: Eugenia jambolana (Sinhala)

Horam-pella: The hamlet in the locality of Hora trees; Minuwangoda division, Gampaha district. Hora: A large timber tree, Dipterocarpus zeylanicus (Sinhala)

Pella-pitiya: The high ground plain with a hamlet; GI Korale division, Kandy district

Ilup-pella: The hamlet in the grassland or forest; Akuressa division, Matara district. I’lu: Forest, multitude (Sinhala); Mi’lai: Wood, forest serving as a defence, thicket, bush (Tamil, DED 4873); I’lai: A jungle as a means of defence (Tamil); I’luk, I’luk-ta’na: A kind of reed, Imperata arundinacea or Saccharum cylindricum (Sinhala); Re’l’lu: Saccharum sara (Kannada, DED 5171); Na’l’lu: A reed (Kannada, DED 2909)

Dam-pella: The hamlet in the locality of Dan trees; Malimbada division, Matara district. Dam, Dan: Eugenia or Syzygium cargophylloea (Sinhala)

Ninda-pella: The hamlet in the endowment land; Ibbagamuwa division, Kurunegala district

Pellan-deniya: The rising ground of the hamlet; Maspotha division, Kurunegala district

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Seeni as Acacia farnesiana:

Seeni-goda: The bank, hill or village seen with Seeniya shrubs; Balapitiya division, Galle district

Seeni-gama: The village of Seeniya shrub landscape; Hikkaduwa division, Galle district

Seeni-munna: The point found with Seeniya shrubs; Lunugamvehera division, Hambantota district

Seeni-modara: The estuary found with Seeniya shrubs; Tangalle division, Hambantota district

Seeniya-moaddai: The tank in the locality of Seeniya shrubs; Karaithu’raippattu division, Mullaiththeevu district. Moaddai, Moazhai: Pond, tank (Tamil)

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Seeni as sugar:

Seeni-Kamhal-Pedesa: The area of the sugar factory; Damana division, Ampaa’rai dictrict. Kamhala: Workshop, manufactory (Sinhala); from Kammala: Smith’s workshop, forge (Sinhala); Kammaa’lai: the same as in Sinhala (Tamil); Karma-saala, Kamma-saala: Workshop (Sanskrit and Prakrit respectively, CDIAL 2896); Aalai: Sugar-cane press, sugar cane (Tamil, DED 387); Aala: Sugar-mill (Malayalam, DED 387); Aale: A sugar-cane press or mill (Kannada, DED 387); A press, mill (Tulu, DED 387); Pedesa: Country, province, district (Sinhala); from Pradesa: Region, country (Sanskrit, CDIAL 8668)

First published: Monday, 30 September 2013, 01:07