Know the Etymology: 339
Place Name of the Day: Friday, 25 April 2014

Nari-kalaichchaan, Nari-gama

நரிகலைச்சான்
நரிக₃ம
Narikalaiccāṉ
Narigama

Nari+kalaichchaan
Nari+gama

The place from where foxes were chased away

The village of foxes

Nari	Jackal, fox (Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu, DED 3606); also tiger (Tamil, Malayalam, Kodagu, DED 3606); Nariyaadu: Jackal (Telugu, DED 3606); Nariyaa: (singular), Nari (plural): Jackal, fox (Sinhala); Ku'l'la-nari: Jackal (Tamil, DED 1839); Ku'ru-nari: Jackal (Tamil, Changkam Diction, Natti'nai, 164: 9, Malayalam, DED 1851); Peru-nari: Tiger (Tamil, northwest districts of Tamil Nadu)
Kalai	(verb) To disperse, break up, scatter, exile (Tamil, DED 1311); to chase away, to chase behind (Tamil); Kalayikka: To drive away birds (Malayalam, DED 1311)

Nari, listed as a Dravidian word (DED 3606), means a jackal or fox in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu.

The word and meaning are the same in Sinhala too. The singular form of the word in Sinhala is Nariyaa, while the plural and combination form is Nari.

Nari means a tiger in Kodagu, a Dravidian language in the Western Ghats, and the word is sometimes found used in that meaning in certain dialects of Tamil and Malayalam as well, especially in parts of the Western Ghats and in the Kongku region. The phrases Ku'l'la-nari/ Ku'ru-nari and Peru-nari are used to differentiate a fox and a tiger in those dialects.

The use of the same word for a jackal and a tiger is found in Sinhala also as Kota is another word for a jackal and Koti means a tiger in Sinhala.

Kalaichchaan derives from the Tamil/ Dravidian verb root Kalai (DED 1311). The verb means to chase away, drive away, chase behind, disperse, break up, scatter, exile etc.

Kalaichchaan is a colloquial form of Kalaiththaan. Such a usage of singular, masculine, past tense verb as a noun is often found noticed in the Eezham Tamil place names.

Gama, a word of Indo-Aryan etymology (CDIAL 4368), means a village in Sinhala (see earlier columns).

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Nari-kalaichchaan is a village in Madu division of Mannaar district

Nari-gama is in Hikkaduwa division of Galle district

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Some related place names:

Nariyaa-gama: The fox-village; Chilaapam division, Puththa'lam district. This is a jungle place, where there is an adjacent reserved forest named after the village.

Nariya-mulla: The fox-corner; Divulapitiya division, Gampaha district

Narigama Wellabada: The beach field of Narigama; Hikkaduwa division, Galle district

Narip-pul-thoaddam: The garden in the place grown with a kind of grass resembling the tail of a fox; Manmunai West division, Batticaloa district. Nari-vaal-pul: Dactylis spicata (Tamil, MTL, citing Jaffna Dictionary)

First published: Friday, 25 April 2014, 05:05