Know the Etymology: 462
Place Name of the Day: Tuesday, 15 March 2016

Guru-bævila

கு₃ரு-பெ₃[æ]வில
Guru-bævila

Guru+bævila

The red-chalk depression or the big depression

Bævila1	from Bævil: crater, hollow place, depression, pit formed by crack or collapse of surface, low place, “Va'la gæsunu tæna, Pahat tæna” (Sinhala, Sorata); probably from Bæ+vila: hole, pit or opening in the earth; Bæ: probably from Boo: earth, world (Sinhala); Bhoo: world, ground (Sanskrit, CDIAL 9546); Wila: hole, chasm, pond (Sinhala); Bila: cave, hole, pit, opening (Sanskrit, Dravidian origin cited, CDIAL 9245); cave, hole (Pali, Prakrit, CDIAL 9245); Pi'l: (verb) to burst open, be rent or cut, be broken to pieces, cleave asunder, divide, crush (Tamil, DED 4194); Pi'la: (verb) to be split, cleaved, rent, cracked, gape (Tamil, DED 4194); Pi'lavu: cleft, crevice, gap (Tamil, DED 4194); cognates in 14 Dravidian languages
Bævila2	a medicinal plant, Sida humilis (Sinhala). See column on Pazhampaasi
Guru	1. red chalk, “Suwanguru, Sivanguru” (Sinhala, Sorata); see column on Gurugala-ælla for etymology; Guru: 2. (adjective) great, large (Sinhala); heavy (Sanskrit, CDIAL 4259)

The word Bævila in Sinhala means a medicinal plant as well as a depression, hollow place, crater or a low place. In meaning landscape, Bævil is explained by Sorata as “Va'la gæsunu tæna or Pahat tæna.”

Considering the landscape of Bævila-related place names in the island and the suffix occurrence of the term, it seems that the geographical meanings are the ones that are applicable to the toponymic usage of the term.

Bævila is probably a phrase of two components Bæ and Vila, the former related to Bhoo, meaning ground and the latter meaning a hole or chasm.

Vila in Sinhala and Vil/ Villu in Eezham Tamil, meaning a hole, chasm or a natural pond correspond to Bila in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, which in turn is traced to Dravidian by A Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages (CDIAL 9245). See box for the root verb Pi'l/ Pi'la and for the noun Pi'lavu meaning a cleft, crevice or gap in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 4194).

In the context of the place name Guru-bævila, which is a large area of depression in a red-chalk terrain, the prefix Guru could mean either big or red-chalk, as both meanings are found for the word in Sinhala. See column on Gurugala-æla for etymology.

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Guru-bævila is a place in Imbulpe division of Ratnapura district.

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Some related place names:

Guru-bævilaa-gama: The village in the big depression/ red-chalk depression; Ratnapura division, Ratnapura district

Bævil-gamuwa: The village in the depression; Polgahawela division, Kurunegala district

Para-bævila: The depression in the area of rock ranges; or the rocky depression; Polgahawela division, Kurunegala district. The place is in an area of depression between two rock ranges. Paraya: rock, range (Sinhala); Paa'rai: rock, crag, stratum, hillock (Tamil, DED 4121)

Dora-baavila: Dora-bæwila: the hollow place in the valley; or Dora-baa-wila: the marsh pond in the valley part; Panduwasnuwara West division, Kurunegala district. This is a valet or depression between two high grounds and there is a marsh pond

First published: Tuesday, 15 March 2016, 08:08