Know the Etymology: 340
Place Name of the Day: Sunday, 27 April 2014

Mooka'laana

மூகளான
Mūkaḷāna

Moo+ka'laana
Muhu+ka'laana

The large forest or the forest of mature trees

Mooka'laana

(singular), Mooka'lan (plural) Large jungle, forest (Sinhala); Forest with larger secondary forest trees (Sinhala, Madduma Bandara 2009); Mooka'lan: from Muhuka'la (Sinhala, Sorata); Moo: from Muhu: Maturing (Sinhala); Muhuka'la: Mature (Sinhala); Moo: (verb root) To become old; (noun) old age (Tamil, DED 4954); Muthu: Old, ancient (Tamil, DED 4954); Large, great, abundant (Tamil, Changkam usage); Muthir: To grow old, become mature, grow ripe (Tamil, DED 4954); Muthai: Matured, as of a forest (Tamil, Akanaanoo'ru 94: 10); Muthaiyal: Wild jungle, ancient forest (Tamil, Natti'nai 121: 1, DED 4954); Kæla, Kælaya, Kælea: Wood, jungle, thicket (Sinhala); Kaal: Forest (from the root Kaa, Tamil, Changkam diction, DED 1418)

Mooka'laana in Sinhala means a large forest having mature trees. Mooka'lan is the plural form of the word.

The prefix Moo is traced to Muhu by Sorata's Sinhala dictionary, which equates Mooka'lan to Muhuka'la.

Muhu in Sinhala means maturing. The root Mu itself is connected to maturity, old etc., as in the Sinhala words Muttaa, Mutnaa (grandfather), Mutun (forefathers, ancestors) etc.

The root of the said Sinhala words is of Dravidian etymology, related to the verb root Moo in Tamil meaning to become old (DED 4954). Some other relevant Tamil word forms are Muthir (to grow old, become mature, grow ripe) and Muthaiyal, meaning an ancient forest or wild jungle in the Changkam diction.

Coming from the root Moo, Mutu in Tamil not only means old or ancient, but also large, great, abundant etc., as in the usage Muthu-kadal meaning sea or ocean recognized for its largeness. The latter usage corresponds to Mooka'lan meaning a large forest in Sinhala.

Muhu-ka'la treated as one word means mature in Sinhala. In this case the suffix could be an expletive. But there is also a possibility that the suffix Ka'la is a cognate of Kæle in Sinhala meaning a forest and is related to Kaal in Tamil/ Dravidian, meaning a forest (DED 1418).

Muthaiyal meaning an ancient, matured and large forest:

“Vithaiyar kon'ra muthaiyal poomi” (Natti'nai 121: 1)

“விதையர் கொன்ற முதையல் பூமி” (நற்றிணை 121: 1)

The ancient, matured and large forestland cleared by those who sow (cultivate)

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Mooka'laana is a place in Pannala division of Kurunegala district

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Some related place names:

Thawalama-mooka'laana: The large or old forest of the place Thawalama; Thawalama division, Galle district. Thawalama: the market place of travelling traders

Polpiti-mooka'laana: The large or old forest of the place Polpiti (gama); Ja-Ela division, Gampaha district. Polpithi: stem of a coconut branch. There are other places in the island such as Polpithigama in Kurunegala district that has gained the name from the availability of coconut branch stem from that place.

First published: Sunday, 27 April 2014, 04:27