Know the Etymology: 490
Place Name of the Day: Friday, 12 August 2016

Kaṭu-muḷuva

க[ட்]டு-முளுவ
Kaṭu-muḷuva

Kaṭu+muḷuva

The thorny assemblage (thorny thicket)

Muḷu

multitude, flock, great number of anything, assemblage, aggregate in general, heap, assembly, military encampment; “Gaṇaya, Samūhaya, Rāśiya, Kẹṭiya, Samitiya, Sabhāva, Kańdavura” (Sinhala, Sorata); (adjective) all, whole, entire (Sinhala, Clough); Mulu: = Muḷu, also corner, “Koṇa” (Sinhala, Sorata); Muluḷu, Muḷulla: whole (Sinhala, Clough); Muḻu: (verb) to be whole, entire (Tamil, DED 4992); all, entire, whole, large (Tamil, DED 4992); Muḻutu, Muḻucu: (noun) entirety, whole (Tamil, DED 4992); Muḻukka: (verb) to grow thick (Malayalam, DED 4992); Muḻuppu: thronged state, thickness (Malayalam, DED 4992); Mul: all persons (Gondi, DED 4992); Mulu: people (Gondi, DED 4992); Mooloo: army, retinue (Gondi, DED 4992)

Kaṭu

(adjective) thorny, fierce, pungent (Sinhala, Clough); prefix to various thorny plants (Sinhala); Kaṭu: (plural noun), Kaṭuva: (singular) thorn, anything with a sharp point (Sinhala, Clough); thorn, pungency, a kind of grass; “Kaṇṭaka, Kuḷirasa, Taṇavisesak” (Sinhala, Sorata); 1. Kaṭu: (verb) to throb and pain as from sting, prick etc., to be pungent (Tamil, DED 1135); sharp (Tamil, Uriccol, Caṅkam diction, Kuṟuntokai, 373: 5); (noun) thorn (Tamil, Tivākaram, 4: 94); pungent, extreme, excessive, fierce, impetuous (Malayalam, DED 1135); sharp (Konda, DED 1135); cognates in 14 Dravidian languages; 2. Kaṭu: pungent, bitter (Sanskrit, CDIAL 2641); Kaṇṭa: thorn (Sanskrit, late usage, Pali, CDIAL 2668); Kaṇṭaka: anything pointed (Sanskrit, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, CDIAL 2668). See column on Kaṭu-pẹlẹlla

The word Muḷu/ Mulu in Sinhala has the meanings, multitude, assemblage, a number of anything or people put together as one body, an assembly and also a military encampment. As adjective it means all, whole or entire.

In Sinhala place names the component means a thicket, grove or cluster of trees, as could be seen from the examples involving tree names.

Muḷu in Sinhala corresponds to Muḻu in Tamil/ Dravidian, which as a verb means to be whole or to be entire, and as adjective means all, whole, entire or large (DED 4992).

In meaning a thicket, grove or cluster of trees, the Sinhala toponymic usage is closer to the Malayalam verb form Muḻukka meaning to grow thick, and to the noun form Muḻuppu, meaning thronged state (DED 4992).

In the box above, see how the other usage meanings in Sinhala, such as assembly of people and military encampment find cognates in Gondi/ Dravidian.

Kaṭu in Sinhala meaning thorn, thorny and anything sharp could be compared to the same word in Tamil/ Dravidian as a verb meaning to throb and pain as from sting or prick; as a special verb (Uriccol) meaning sharp and as noun meaning thorn (DED 1135, Tivākaram, 4: 94). Sanskrit has the cognates Kaṇṭa and Kaṇṭaka, but note the word form closeness and the presence of the verb form in Tamil. Even for Kaṭu meaning pungent and fierce in Sinhala the verb usage could be seen in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 1135).

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Kaṭu-muḷuva is a place in Panduwasnuwara East division of Kurunegala district.

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Some related place names:

Muḷu/ Mulu:

Kapu-mulu-goḍa: The bank/ hill/ village having a cluster or multitude of silk cotton trees; Hikkaduwa division, Galle district

Bō-gaha-muḷu-goḍa: The bank/ hill/ village having an assemblage (grove) of Bō trees

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See column on Kaṭu-pẹlẹlla for Kaṭu related place names.

First published: Friday, 12 August 2016, 11:55