Know the Etymology: 470
Place Name of the Day: Tuesday, 14 June 2016

Maradaana

மரதா₃ன
Maradāna

Mara+daana

The sandy plain

Maradāna

sandy plain, sandy region or soil (Sinhala, Clough); “Vẹlisahita pedesa” (Sinhala, Sorata); Maradan-vẹli: fine sand, “Siyum vẹlla” (spoken Sinhala, Sorata); 1. Mara+dāna; Dāna: either Tāna: expanse (Sinhala, Clough); “Stāna” (Sinhala, Sorata; Sanskrit, CDIAL 13753); or Dhāna: suffix in compounds meaning what has or contains (CDIAL 6775, Dhānī, Clough); Maral: sand, gravel (Kannada, DED 4666b); 2. Marada+āna: Mṛdā: earth, clay (Sanskrit, CDIAL 10291)

Maradāna in Sinhala means a sandy plain or sandy region.

As toponym the term is noticed in two places that are coastal and sandy.

To understand the root and word formation of Maradāna, derivative examples couldn´t be found in Sinhala diction other than the phrase Maradan-vẹli, meaning fine sand (Sorata).

If Dāna/ Dana is taken as an affix as in some other Sinhala place names, meaning a site or its contents, then the closest cognate for Mara in word form and meaning is Maral in Kannada/ Dravidian, meaning sand or gravel. Kannada diction also has the other forms, Maṇal, Maḷal, Malal and Malar for sand (Ṇ>L>R) to understand the phonetics of the form Maral (DED 4666b).

If the root is Marada and Āna is affix, then a possible cognate is Mṛdā in Sanskrit, meaning earth or clay (CDIAL 10291).

* * *

The place name Maradāna could be found in Colombo city and in Beruwala division of Kalutara district.

* * *

First published: Tuesday, 14 June 2016, 23:13