Know the Etymology: 355
Place Name of the Day: Friday, 20 June 2014

Naa-kuttiya, Kuttiya-golla

நாகுட்டிய, குட்டியகொ₃ல்ல
Nākuṭṭiya, Kuṭṭiya-golla

Naa+kuttiya
Kuttiya+golla

The piece of land having Naa trees; or the mound of Naa trees

The forest piece of land; or the hill forest

Kuttiya 1

Lump, piece, slip (Sinhala); Kæti. Kætiya: Clod, lump (Sinhala); Kæta: Small stone, bit of stone (Sinhala); Kaddu: Fastening, bundle (Tamil, DED 1147); to harden, consolidate (Tamil, DED 1148); Kettu: Bundle (Malayalam, DED 1147); Kaddi: Clod, lump (Tamil, DED 1148); Katta: Lump, mass, clod (Malayalam, DED 1148); Kathina in Sanskrit is traced to Dravidian (CDIAL 2650). Kætiya, Katuwa: Common place-name components in Sinhala, meaning a piece or plot of land; Kaddi, Kaddi, Kaddai: Place name components in Eezham Tamil, meaning a piece or plot of land. See column on Thoalai-kaddi, Bora'lu-ketiya

Kuttiya 2

Apart from Kætiya, the word is equated to Goda (Sinhala, Sorata's dictionary); Goda: Heap, mass, bank, land at the edge of water (Sinhala); Godælla: Hill, mound, rising ground (Sinhala); 1. Kuddam: Mass (Tamil, Cheevaka Chinthaama'ni, 4: 231); Ku'ndu: Mass, a small hill (Tamil, DED 1682); Gudda, Guddu: Mountain, hill (Kannada, DED 1682); Gudde: Heap, pile (Kannada, 1682), Gutta, Gutte: Hillock (Kannada, DED 1682); Gudde: Heap, hill (Kodagu, DED 1682); Gutta: Heap, hill, hillock, mountain (Telugu, DED 1682); Guddamu: A plot of land (Telugu, DED 1682); Gudde, Guddi: Field on mountain slopes, a high field (Telugu, DED 1682); Gutta: Hill, mountain (Gadba, DED 1682); Guti: Bank of river (Pengo, Manda,DED 1682); Gudeeka: Dry land (Kuwi, DED 1682). 2. See earlier columns on the etymology of Goda traced to Koadu in Tamil

Kuttiya is a seldom-found place name component in Sinhala.

Sorata Nayaka Thera's Sinhala dictionary gives two meanings for the word Kuttiya: one is Kætiya and the other is Goda.

Kuttiya, in the sense of Kætiya, means a piece, lump or slip, and in the context of place names, it means a piece or plot of land.

Kætiya and a related form Katuwa are commonly found place name components in Sinhala. Kaddi, Kaddu and Kaddai are the Eezham Tamil equivalents. See column on Thoalai-kaddi, Bora'lu-ketiya, for discussion on the Dravidian etymology of the terms.

In this sense of meaning, Kuttiya probably is a variation of Kætiya.

In another sense of meaning, Kuttiya is equated to Goda, which means a heap, mass, hill, mound, bank, rising ground at the edge of a water body etc. See box on Kuttiya 2 for cognates in Dravidian (DED 1682).

See column on Naalanda for discussion on Naa tree (Mesua ferrea, Naaga in Sanskrit/ Pali, CDIAL 7041; Naakam in Tamil), and see column on Pol-golla for etymological relations of Golla in Sinhala and Kollai in Tamil, meaning a forest or grove.

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Naa-kuttiya is a place in Matara Four Gravets division of Matara district

Kuttiya-golla is in Soranathota division of Badulla district. The place is a densely forested rocky hill.

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Some related place names:

Kutti-vila: The marsh piece of land; or the marsh/ pond of the mound; Dompe division, Gampaha district

Kuttiya-watta: The garden or grove piece; or the garden/ grove of the mound; Welivitiya-Divithura division, Galle district

Weera-kutti-goda: The bank/ hill/ village having a plot of Weera trees; Katuwana division, Hambantota district

Kutti-ku'lama: The small pond/ or the pond piece of land/ or the tank of the mound; Thirappane division, Anuradhapura district. Kuddi: small (Tamil, DED 1670). In this context the Tamil meaning is more probable, as the Ku'lama (Ku'lam) place names in the Anuradhapura district are mostly Sinhalicised ones.

Kollan-kutti-gama: The village of the Kollan trees piece of land; or the village of the high ground of Kollan trees; Kekirawa division, Anuradhapura district

Kalang-kuttiya: The piece of land for threshing paddy; or the high ground for threshing paddy; Galnewa division, Anuradhapura district. The place is a patch of high ground amidst vast stretches of paddy fields.

Kutti-gala: The piece of stony land; or the stony high ground; Embilipitiya division, Ratnapura district. The place is a patch of hard high ground amidst paddy fields

Amu'ne-kuttiya: The bank piece of the paddy field; Matara Four Gravets division, Matara district. This is a piece of high ground adjacent to paddy fields

First published: Friday, 20 June 2014, 07:34