Know the Etymology: 299
Place Name of the Day: Saturday, 19 October 2013

Podi-vee-kumbura, Nelluch-cheanai

பொடி₃வீ கும்பு₃ர
நெல்லுச்சேனை
Poḍivī Kumbura
Nelluccēṉai

Podi+vee+kumbura
Nellu+cheanai

The paddy field to cultivate a small-grained variety of paddy.
The shifting cultivation paddy field.

Vee	Paddy, rice in the husk, Oriza sativa (Sinhala, Maldivian); 1. Vreehi: Rice (Sanskrit, CDIAL 12233); Veehi: Rice (Pali, Prakrit, CDIAL 12233); 2. Beeja, Veeja, Biju: Egg, seed, semen (Sinhala); Bittara: Seed, egg (Sinhala); Beeja: Seed, semen (Sanskrit, CDIAL 9250); Seed (Pali, CDIAL 9250); Bee: Seed, grain (several IA languages, CDIAL 9250); Veeyam: Seed, rice (Tamil, traced to IA, DED 60, Thirumoolar, 1927; Pingkalam, 6:625); 3. Viththu, Vichchu: (verb) To sow, spread, broadcast (Tamil, DED 5401); Viththu: (noun) Seed, semen (Tamil, Malayalam, DED 5401); Vichchu: (noun) Seed (Tamil, DED 5401); Cognates in 19 Dravidian languages (DED 5401); Vithir: To scatter, throw about (Tamil, DED 5400); 4. Vi’lai: (verb) to produce, grow, ripen as grain; (noun) Growth, produce, crop, yield (Tamil, DED 5437);
Podivee	Podi+vee: A small-grained kind of paddy compared to Maa-vee, a large sort of paddy (Sinhala); Podi-heenati-vee, Podi-haatali-vee: Small varieties of paddy (Sinhala)
Podi	(adjective) Small, broken, crushed, broken by squeezing (Sinhala); Podi-lamayaa: Small child (Sinhala); Podi-kæælla: Small bit (Sinhala); Podiya: Small bit, fragment, crump, particle (Sinhala); Podissa: Fragment, bit, atom, minute piece (Sinhala); Poddaa: Lad (Sinhala); Poddee: Lass (Sinhala); Podossee, Podissee: Girl, maid, girl under 13 years of age (Sinhala); Putta: Small, dwarfish (Sanskrit, etymology traced to Dravidian, CDIAL 8256); 1. Podi: That which is small, a little child (Tamil, DED 4259); Podiyan: Boy (Tamil, DED 4259); Podichchi: Girl (Eezham Tamil); Putta, Putti, Puta: Small, smallness, shortness, littleness (Kannada, DED 4259); Huduga, Hudugi: Boy and girl respectively (Kannada, DED 4259); Putta: Small, diminutive (Tulu, DED 4259); Potti, Poti: Short, dwarfish (Telugu, DED 4259); Bodiga: Boy, child (Telugu, DED 4259); Botte: A little girl (Telugu, DED 4259); Further cognates are found in Parji, Gadba, Gondi, Kuwi, Kurux, Maltese, and Brahui (DED 4259); 2. Podi: (verb) To be broken to pieces, become pulverized; (noun) Powder, dust, pollen, ash, particle, fragment (Tamil, DED 4481); Cognates in Malayalam, Kota, Toda, Kannada, Kodagu, Tulu and Telugu (DED 4481)
Nel	Also Nellu: Rice, paddy, grain of paddy, (Tamil, DED 3753).

Vee is a term for paddy or rice in husk in Sinhala. Names of a number of paddy varieties end with the term Vee.

The etymology of the term could be traced to both Indo-Aryan and Dravidian.

Veehi in Pali/ Prakrit, connected to Vreehi in Sanskrit (CDIAL 12233), meaning rice, could be the nearest cognate.

Another set of terms Beeja, Veeja and Biju in Sinhala, related to Beeja in Sanskrit (CDIAL 9250) and basically meaning seed, also may have a relationship to Vee. The Tamil cognate Veeyam, meaning seed or rice, is probably related to the above group of words.

A different set of Tamil words Viththu, Vichchu, Vithai etc, meaning seed or semen, is listed as Dravidian in etymology (DED 5401). The set of words, found used in Tamil since Changkam times, has cognates in 19 Dravidian languages. DED indicates that the etymology of this set of words may be traced to Tamil/ Dravidian verb forms meaning sowing, scattering, spreading etc. (See box).

Vi’lai meaning ripe grain, crop, yield etc., in Tamil, and its cognates in other Dravidian languages (DED 5437), make yet another set of terms for comparison.

It is quite possible that all the terms discussed above are generically related to one another.

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Some names of paddy varieties in Sinhala ending with the component Vee:

Æl-vee, Æliya-vee, Baala-maa-vee, Baala-meepat-vee, Balawaane-vee, Batikiriyal-vee, Balalwaane-vee, Kachchipota-vee, Kaha-ælvee, Kahata-ælvee, Kahata-vee, Kahata-handiran-vee, Kawudu-ælvee, Mahaa-kiriyal-vee, Mahaa-kooru-vee, Mahaa-vee, Maapat-ælvee, Muroo-vee, Moodu-hiri-ælvee, Pat-vee, Panneti-vee, Payakooru-vee, Poowaa’lu-vee, Podi-vee, Podi-heenati-vee, Polæl-vee, Pot-ælvee, Podi-haatali-vee, Pola-vee, Posun-ælvee, Rata-vee, Rata-handiran-vee, Rat-ælvee, Ratwara-ælvee, Ratkunda-maavee, Ratkunda-vee, Rattatu-ælvee, Ratpat-ælvee, Raaja-vee, Raawa’na-vee, Sihin-ælvee, Sihin-vee, Sudu-hælvee, Sudu-vee, Suwanda-ælvee, Suwanda-vee, Wekola-vee

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The term Podi-vee found in the place name means a kind of paddy crop the grains of which are small in size. It is a term of comparison to another kind of paddy crop called Maa-vee, the grains of which are large in size.

Podi as an adjective in Sinhala is used basically in two shades of meanings, but both are connected to each other.

In one sense of meaning, as in Podi-lamayaa, it means small. In another sense of meaning it means a broken or crushed bit. The noun form Podiya means a small bit, fragment, crump or particle. Another related noun Podissa means fragment, bit, atom or a minute piece.

In both shades of meanings, Podi in Sinhala is a cognate of the words of Dravidian etymology listed under DED 4259 and 4481.

In the sense of meaning small, as in small boy or girl, compare the terms Podi (child), Podiyan (boy), Podichchi (girl) in Tamil and Podi-lamayaa (small child) Poddaa (boy), Poddee (girl) and Podessee/ Podissee (girl, maid, girl under 13) in Sinhala. Also note the cognates in other Dravidian languages in the box (DED 4259).

Sanskrit has a cognate, Putta, meaning small, but this is found only in Sanskrit among IA and is taken as a word that has come from Dravidian (CDIAL 8256).

In the sense of Podi, Podiya and Podissa meaning a broken or crushed bit, fragment, particle, atom, etc., in Sinhala, comparison could be made with Podi in Tamil/ Dravidian, meaning powder, dust, pollen, ash, particle or fragment (DED 4481). Podi in Tamil in this sense of meaning is both a verb as well as a noun.

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Nel/ Nellu is a common Tamil word of Dravidian etymology, meaning paddy or grain of paddy (DED 3753)

See earlier columns for etymological discussions on Kumbura in Sinhala (Kampalai in old Tamil, DED 1237), meaning paddy field, and Cheanai in Eezham Tamil (Heana in Sinhala, Punam in old Tamil, DED 4337), meaning a field for shifting cultivation.

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Podi-vee-kumbura is a place in Ja-Ela division of Gampaha district.

Nelluch-cheanai is in Ma’nmunai West division of Batticaloa district.

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Some related place names:

Vee:

Vee-hena: The field for shifting paddy cultivation; Mahawewa division, Puththa’lam district

Maa-vee-hena: The shifting cultivation field for Maa-vee (large grained) variety of paddy crop; Katupotha division, Kurunegala district; Mirigama division, Gampaha district

Maa-vee-kumbura: The paddy field where the Maa-vee (large grained) variety of paddy is cultivated; Udunuwara division, Kandy district

Nel:

Chen-nel-kiraamam: The village cultivating red variety of rice; Sammaan-thu’rai division, Ampaa’rai district

First published: Saturday, 19 October 2013, 11:24