Know the Etymology: 400
Place Name of the Day: Sunday, 03 May 2015

Netti-pola-gedara

நெத்திபொல கெ₃த₃ர
Nettipola-gedara

Netti+pola+gedara

The house and premises on the high open ground or corner open ground

Netti	forehead, corner, point, end (Sinhala); Neththi, Ne’r’ri: forehead, front, top, summit (Tamil, DED 3759); Ne’r’ri: a high ground, elevated ground (Tamil inscription, 1264 CE, SII, xvii, 171); Nettamu: high land, elevated ground (Telugu, DED 3759)
Pola	also Po’la, Pala, Pa’la: place, spot, earth, often an open ground like a market place (Sinhala); Pulam: place, region, quarter, rice field, open space, wide space (Tamil, DED 4303)

Netti in Sinhala means forehead. Related to the meaning, the word also means corner, point or end. The word is a cognate of Tamil/ Dravidian Ne’r’ri or Neththi, meaning a forehead as well as front, top or summit (DED 3759). In Tamil inscriptional usages Ne’r’ri also stood for an elevated ground (SII, xvii, 171).

The prefix Netti in Sinhala place names seems to have been used in a relative sense, meaning a high ground, a frontal place or an end place.

Pola and Pala meaning a place or open space in Sinhala are related to Pulam in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 4303), meaning the same. See earlier columns on the Indo-Aryan etymology of Gedara, meaning a house and premises.

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Netti-pola-gedara is a place in Kuliyapitiya division of Kurunegala district

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Some related place names:

Netti-pala-gama: The village of the high open ground or the village at the end open ground; Maho division, Kurunegala district

Netti-pokuna-wæwa: The tank of (the village having) the high ground natural pond; Mahakumbukadawala division, Puththa’lam district

First published: Sunday, 03 May 2015, 11:21