Know the Etymology: 474
Place Name of the Day: Thursday, 14 July 2016

Ciṟāmpiyaṭi, Sirambi-aḍiya

சிறாம்பியடி,
ஸிரம்பி₃-அடி₃ய
Ciṟāmpiyaṭi, Sirambi-aḍiya

Ciṟāmpi+aṭi
Sirambi+aḍiya

The watchtower locality

Ciṟāmpi	a loft or platform for keeping watch, “Kāval Paraṇ” (Eezham Tamil, MTL, citing Jaffna Dictionary); a covered platform used for watching fields (Eezham Tamil, Winslow); “Aṭṭālai” (Eezham Tamil, Kathiraiverpillai); Ciṟa: enclosure (Malayalam, DED 1980); Ciṟai: (verb) to restrain, imprison, dam up; (noun) guard, confinement, bank, boundary (Tamil, DED 1980); Sira: enclosure, “Bẹńdunu” (Sinhala, Sorata)
Aṭi	a locative ending coming from the meanings: foot, footprint, base, bottom, source, origin, (Tamil, DED 72); cognates in Malayalam, Kota, Toda, Kannada, Kodagu, Tulu, Telugu, Gadba, Gondi and Konda (DED 72)
Aḍiya	foot, footstep, the bottom of anything (Sinhala, Clough); the locative ending usage of the term is seen mostly in instances of Sinhalicisation of Tamil place names. See Aṭi

Ciṟāmpi is an Eezham Tamil usage to mean a loft, watchtower or covered platform for keeping watch. Aṭṭālai is another Tamil term used in Kathiraiverpillai’s dictionary to explain Ciṟāmpi.

The etymology of Ciṟāmpi goes to Ciṟai in Tamil/ Dravidian, which as a verb means to enclose or dam up, and as a noun means guard or confinement (DED 1980). Ciṟa in Malayalam and Sira in Sinhala are cognates meaning enclosure. Other related verbs in Tamil/ Dravidian are Ceṟi, meaning to keep within bounds, to shut, close, secure etc., and Ceṟu meaning to control, prevent etc. (DED 1980)

* * *

Ciṟāmpiyaṭi is a place in Jaffna City division of Jaffna district.

Sirambi-aḍiya, as found in recent official records, or Sirambiyadi as noted in earlier survey maps, is a place in Puttalam division of Puttalam district.

* * *

First published: Thursday, 14 July 2016, 17:48