500+ most frequently used telugu words in carnatic music

Languages used in Carnatic Music & Literature
PUNARVASU
Posts: 2498
Joined: 06 Feb 2010, 05:42

Post by PUNARVASU »

srkris,
AFAIK, it is 'gam gachcha ' to go.

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

srkris wrote:
keerthi wrote:the root verb is 'gam' meaning 'to go' it is conjugated as gacchati, gacchasi, gacchAmi = he/she goes, you go, I go..
AFAIK gam- is not conjugated as gacchati (but as gamati)

Isn't gach- a different root from gam- (although both have the same meaning)?

Gam is the verb which is conjugated as gacchati.. I would know, since this is one of the pitifully few verbs I recognise.. :|


And are you sure lAli is a sanskrit word..?

srkris
Site Admin
Posts: 3497
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 03:34

Post by srkris »

What I have learnt is that gam and gach are different roots. The same verb cannot be conjugated both as gamati and gacchati. Maybe I am wrong.

I am not sure about lAli, but now that you asked, I became more unsure.

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

There is no conjugation as gamati, that I have come across so far.. If you can recollect any literature where this occurs, I would love it if you could share the information..

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

this may be a bit off topic... I vaguely remember reading somewhere that sanskrit has 2000+ roots from which any entity, action and relationships among entities can be derived. Is there an easy to browse list of these 2000 roots and their meaning somewhere? I realize it is a big task to learn the rules of derivations, case endings etc. but I thought I will get a feel for what such a 'universal' root word coverage looks like.

BTW, the young girl who won the 2009 Scripps U.S. national spelling bee ( Kavya Shivashankar from Kansas, 13 year old eighth grader ) just breezed through the competition mainly because of her tremendous strength in root words in Latin, Greek, Italian and French and knowing how they are put together in English.

PUNARVASU
Posts: 2498
Joined: 06 Feb 2010, 05:42

Post by PUNARVASU »

the only usage AFAIK, is in the passive form-'gamyatE', 'gamayati(causal?)'.
I have also not come across 'gamati'.

srkris
Site Admin
Posts: 3497
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 03:34

Post by srkris »

I agree it is rarer than gacchati (indeed, very rare in classical sanskrit), but the form can be found commonly in the Vedic dialect

Rigveda 8.102.9
ayáM víshvA abhí shríyo agnír devéSu patyate
ÃÂÂ

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

51a. 51 nija - nija = personal/one's own,sonda,swanta,nijI.
This seems to be a meaning of sanskrit stock.. (nija-dAsa varada = boon-giver to your devotees)

51b. 51 nija = truth.. uNmai/mei, nija/satya, sach.. (nijamugA nee mahima = verily, your greatness)

this usage of a sanskrit word in a different meaning is peculiar to all the south Indian languages.
(other examples I can think of, with changed meanings, are sadya in kannada, and yadeccham in tamizh)

52. 51 nAma = Sanskrit for name, peyar, hesaru,nAm ( nI nAma-rUpamulaku nitya-jaya-mangaLam = May your name and form confer good to us ever)

53. 50 vELa = time,vELai/poZHudu, vELe/hottu, samay. (tammuDu baDalina vELa = [at the time]when your brother was fatigued)

Also used to indicate time relative to some other event..(see above example)

54. 50 jana = Sanskrit for people, used similarly in other languages.. (sAdhu-jana-jIvana = precious as life for the virtuous people)

55. 49 telisi = having known/understood, terinjiNDu/purinjiNDu, tiL(id)ukoNDu, jAn-kar/samajh-kar.
(telisi rAma cintanatO nAmamu sEyavE = Understand, through contemplation of rAma and then chant God's names)

56. 49 sadA = Sanskrit for always, eppozhudu,yAvAgalu, hamEshA ( centanE sadA uncukO = always keep me near you)

57. 49 mAM - Sanskrit for to me,ennai, nannannu, mujhE/mujhkO (mam-ava satatam = protect me always)
second case declension(vocative) of the root asmad = I/we

58. 49 kula = Sanskrit for race/community/family; same word is used in most languages..
(nIvErA kula dhanamu = You alone are my family wealth)

58b. kula is also used in the sense of horde,multitude, flock, kuzhuvu, gumpu, jhunD
(aLi kula nibha vENi = (O Mother) whose tresses are dark like a swarm of bees!)

59. 49 bhakti = sanskrit for attachment/piety/devotion.. rAma-bhakti-samrAjya = the empire that is devotion to rama


60a. 48 pati = when solitary or suffixed to word indicating a woman; means husband.. (sItapati, vAgpati etc)

60b. when compounded with other words, can mean lord/master/possesor/sovereign etc.. (for examples see rAja, replace all rAja with pati)

61. 47 sundara = Sanskrit for beautiful/charming/agreeable.. widely prevalent as such in other languages too.. (sundara-tara-dEham = most beautiful bodied)

62. 46 rAdA = doesn't it come/ varavillayA, baralillavA, AyA nahIN kyA..? (vina rAdA nA manavi = Can’t You listen to my appeal?)
(usually rhetorical) negative form of the telugu verb rA = come.. Usually an auxillary verb to another verb or an abstract noun..

rshankar
Posts: 13754
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Post by rshankar »

keerthi wrote: nI nAma-rUpamulaku nitya-jaya-mangaLam = May your name and form confer good to us ever
Or, is it, 'auspiciousness (jaya mangaLam) to/for your (nI) name (nAma) and forms (rUpamulaku) forever/daily (nitya)'?
keerthi wrote: 62. 46 rAdA = doesn't it come/ varavillayA,
rAdA? = varAdA, varamATTAdA, varamuDiyAdA (won't you/it come?). In hindi, I do not think you can find a single word for this - like in English, a phrase would be needed - 'A nahIn saktE?' for 'avar varArA/varamATTArA?

varavillayA? = didn't you/it come?
Last edited by rshankar on 02 Jun 2009, 17:23, edited 1 time in total.

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

rshankar wrote:
Or, is it, 'auspiciousness (jaya mangaLam) to/for your (nI) name (nAma) and forms (rUpamulaku) forever/daily (nitya)'?

rAdA? = varAdA, varamATTAdA, varamuDiyAdA (won't you/it come?). In hindi, I do not think you can find a single word for this - like in English, a phrase would be needed - 'A nahIn saktE?' for 'avar varArA/varamATTArA?

varavillayA? = didn't you/it come?
I agree that both the above are improvements on my attempts..

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

srkris wrote:VK, you can find the list of the 2000 verbal roots in the "Dhatupatha".
srkris, thanks for the reference. Every time I do any kind of reference look up on such Sanskrit related items, I get amazed by how Panini's work is so relevant to today's computing world. It just boggles my mind that he had advanced the field of generative grammars 2000+ years back only for the rest of humanity to catch up to him after so long.

Do the root words cover both verbs and nouns ( or at that root word level, this is not even an appropriate question to ask? )

I googled and found a few sites but have not found one which is complete with English translation. I am continuing to look.
Also, I would like to use a site that has good credentials both for the root word list as well as the english translations. Thanks.

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

vasanthakokilam wrote:
Do the root words cover both verbs and nouns ( or at that root word level, this is not even an appropriate question to ask? )
The 'dhAtu' in dhAtu-pATha refers to verb root.. Hence it is a list of verbs alone.. the ancient master of semantics and etymology YAska posited that all nouns were derived from verbs or combinations of verb forms.. hence there isn't a noun-root in sanskrit..

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

the ancient master of semantics and etymology YAska posited that all nouns were derived from verbs or combinations of verb forms..
Interesting! That is a very audacious statement to make in itself ;) let alone build a whole language/grammar around that concept. This gets curioser and curioser! I will read up further on YAska. I wanted to look at the roots to get a glimpse of the kind of universal entities they were dealing with then, but this throws a monkey wrench into that plan. But it only makes it further interesting since verbs ( actions ) are probably a closed set. What a great idea to derive the open and extensible set of nouns from that fixed set.

srkris
Site Admin
Posts: 3497
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 03:34

Post by srkris »

keerthi wrote:The 'dhAtu' in dhAtu-pATha refers to verb root.. Hence it is a list of verbs alone.. the ancient master of semantics and etymology YAska posited that all nouns were derived from verbs or combinations of verb forms.. hence there isn't a noun-root in sanskrit..
That is right.

However, much as Panini and his school tried to explain the etymologies of all nouns by their verbal roots, they could not account for some of the rarer nouns (mainly in vedic), for which they promptly said the vedas are above authority :D

My supposition is that Vedic may have had other roots (unknown to later grammarians like Panini) that gave rise to those nouns.

cmlover
Posts: 11498
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Post by cmlover »

Veda is eternal. Yaska derived the 'dhatus' from the veda to provide explanation for the meaning of the veda. In many cases he was unable to contain the meanings within the dhatus. Sayana follows Yaska in his interpretaions of the veda on which there are lots of disagreements especially from Dayananda Sarasvati. Etymology is analytic while original vedic words are synthetic. Hence Panini who fashioned the dhatupATHa throws his hands up as 'ArShaprayOga' while dealing with vedic terms since he strictly followed Yaska...

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

I can still use help from all of you for an authoritative link for material on dhatupATHa with english translation and transliteration!

cmlover
Posts: 11498
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Post by cmlover »

A good reference is:
Dhatu-PaTha
The Roots of Language: The foundations of the Indo-European verbal system
by
Stephen R. Hill and Peter G Harrison
Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 1997 (ISBN: 81-215-0814-0)

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

CML, thanks. I have a feeling that this Dhatu-PaTha itself may be way over my head, but I will give it a try.

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

cmlover wrote:Veda is eternal. Yaska derived the 'dhatus' from the veda to provide explanation for the meaning of the veda. In many cases he was unable to contain the meanings within the dhatus. Sayana follows Yaska in his interpretaions of the veda on which there are lots of disagreements especially from Dayananda Sarasvati. Etymology is analytic while original vedic words are synthetic. Hence Panini who fashioned the dhatupATHa throws his hands up as 'ArShaprayOga' while dealing with vedic terms since he strictly followed Yaska...

Speaking about sayana's commentary, I remember prof.Fritz staal ,the eminent chronicler of the soma, agniSToma and Aptoryama sacrifices quoting his teacher - when sAyana doesn't understand a word in the rg vEda, he says it means water..! :p


It is inconcievable, that any language or proto-language can evolve solely from verbs.. I think the pUrvAcArya-s knew this.. Their idea may have been, that sanskrit being a much-fashioned and consciously crafted language could fit into this idea.. The corpus of verb and noun must have taken form simultaneously.. their eventual development probably wasn't of the same kind/ at the same rate....

srkris
Site Admin
Posts: 3497
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 03:34

Post by srkris »

keerthi wrote:Speaking about sayana's commentary, I remember prof.Fritz staal ,the eminent chronicler of the soma, agniSToma and Aptoryama sacrifices quoting his teacher - when sAyana doesn't understand a word in the rg vEda, he says it means water..! :p
If Sayana actually did that, it is likely he meant something by it. The term 'ÄÂÂ

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

srkris wrote:
keerthi wrote:Speaking about sayana's commentary, I remember prof.Fritz staal ,the eminent chronicler of the soma, agniSToma and Aptoryama sacrifices quoting his teacher - when sAyana doesn't understand a word in the rg vEda, he says it means water..! :p
Each verse of these hymns exhorts the listener to understand the true properties (nature) of water. Sayana was probably not joking.
I think the professor meant sayana's interpretAtion of several different words.. That is a little funny..

And take his comment, and my quote of the comment (and, actually sayana) with a pinch of salt.. makes it more palatable..

It is inconcievable, that any language or proto-language can evolve solely from verbs.. I think the pUrvAcArya-s knew this..
If some nouns can be formed from verbs, why cannot all nouns be thus formed?
Imagine the first creatures that communicated.. the words for say sun/day/light and mother etc.. would have been the earliest coinages.. and these would have been acts of naming.. when the first humans learnt to speak to each other, they would have coined nouns rather than verbs, in my opinion..

Eventually when verbs were created and people were comfortable using them.. they probably were used to created abstract and other nouns..

I just felt this may be the more natural course.. other rationalisations are welcome..

girish_a
Posts: 427
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 13:33

Post by girish_a »

Can someone make a PDF out of all the words and post the link here? The unstructured/free-form format here is a little hard on the eyes.

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Girish: I am planning on doing such a collation job once the meanings of the 500 words are completed. I will combine the posts the best way I can and post it back here for review to make sure I captured them all.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Post by arasi »

Homework, homework, for poor VK!

cmlover
Posts: 11498
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Post by cmlover »

The spring cuckoo is very busy building a nest right after spring :)

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

or rather repairing the nest after the ravages of winter ;) Thinking about doing it, procrastinating and realizing the lack of progress is stressful. Need to hire a handycuckoo. ;)

PUNARVASU
Posts: 2498
Joined: 06 Feb 2010, 05:42

Post by PUNARVASU »

The cuckoo is famous for leaving its egg in the crow's nest for being hatched by the crow!- :)
Last edited by PUNARVASU on 09 Jun 2009, 12:02, edited 1 time in total.

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Ah..Grahabedham!!

PUNARVASU
Posts: 2498
Joined: 06 Feb 2010, 05:42

Post by PUNARVASU »

'gruhabhEdm'.
So ,spring cuckoo, you have to catch a crow-'kAkkA piDikka vENDum'- :)
Last edited by PUNARVASU on 09 Jun 2009, 14:56, edited 1 time in total.

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

Which crow..? The one (that) flew over the cuckoo's nest...?

PUNARVASU
Posts: 2498
Joined: 06 Feb 2010, 05:42

Post by PUNARVASU »

keerthi- :)

cmlover
Posts: 11498
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Post by cmlover »

aha! so finally the spring-cuckoo has decided to lay its egg! Don't worry about a nest! There are plenty of she-crows at the Forum who will nurture the cuckooling until it opens its mouth to 'coo' till the next spring :) Remember
kAkaH kriShNaH pikaH kriShNaH kO bhEdhAH pikakAkayOH |
vasantasamayE prAptE kAkaH kAkaH pikaH pikaH ||

(..what is relevant for this thread is that .. as long as the 'aravam' does not open its mouth it will be considered a 'telugu' :)

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Post by arasi »

CML,
Goes to prove, whatever the cuckoo's reputation, however uncaring it may come across to be (this is purely about the bird, not about the one who bears its name), it is the best name one can have. Its sweet music is the reason? Add the favorite sprinkle of spring to the name, and who can resist it? In a way, this is the case with some of CM's musicians too, is it not? However unappealing the personalities of some, there music lives on and they are admired no end--or rather, their music :)

Suji Ram
Posts: 1529
Joined: 09 Feb 2006, 00:04

Post by Suji Ram »

cmlover wrote: (..what is relevant for this thread is that .. as long as the 'aravam' does not open its mouth it will be considered a 'telugu' :)
'aravam' in telugu means- we won't shout.
VK add this too... :)

cmlover
Posts: 11498
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Post by cmlover »

.. also 'aravam' (under the Table) means us 'Tamils' :) (among the 'gults' :)

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

The next, much delayed instalment..

63. 46 hRt - sanskrit for heart.. heart, idayam, hrdaya,dil (thyAgarAja-hrt-sadana - dweller of thyagarAja's heart..)

64. 46 enta - how much/as much (ever), ettanai/evvaLavu, yeshTu, kitnA/jitnA (enta nErcinA enta jUcinA = however much one has learnt, however much one has seen)

65. 46 arcita - Skt. for worshipped, see also nuta, sannuta, vandita, pujita

66. 45 sakala - entire/all/complete, used as it is in other languages.. (sakala lOka nAtha = lord of the whole world OR lord of all the worlds)

67. 44 nayana - Sanskrit for eye, also see netra/ akSa/lOcana (kuvalaya daLa nayana = lotus-petal-eyed one!)

68. 44 Ananda - skt. For bliss/joy, Used identically in all languages..(Ananda-sAgara-mIdu = In the ocean of bliss)

69. 43 aTa - A suffix, used to give the meaning 'it seems' or 'they say' akkum,antE, KahtE haiN
Also used in an imperative or instructional tone..(ought to/should etc..)
(sItA pati pUjyuDaTa = sIta's lord, he is to be venerated)(pUjyudu = worship-worthy, venerable; pUjyudaTa = SHOULD be worshipped)

70. 42 Sayana - skt. Abstract noun For sleep.. (kShIra-sagara-SayanA = One who sleeps in the Milky ocean)
derived from the root verb 'shIn' for recline..
so it has more to do with lying down than with sleeping..

71. 42 mada - skt for arrogance/intoxication; is the same in other languages.. (duSTa danuja mada vidAra = O Lord who subdued the arrogance of wicked demons!)

72. 42 lEni - suffix, to denote 'without' or 'in the absence of'..(daya-lEni bratukEmi = what is the use of living, without your blessing )

73. 41 ika - adv. Yet, still, further, hereafter, henceforth, then, next, in future, presently, soon
(ika kAvalasinad(E)mi = What else do You need?)

74. 40 tana - tana. [Tel.] adj. Own, his her, my. tan(uDaya), tanna, uskA
(tana mIdanE ceppukOvale = I shall blame it only on myself)
See 'tAnu' of which this is the genitive.

75. 40 karuNA - sanskrit for compassion/mercy, karuNai,karuNe, karuNA
also see daya (karuNa jUDavamma = Deign to have mercy on me)

76. 40 idi - this,idu,idu, yah/yE(h) ( idi samayamurA =Now/this is the time)

77. 39 tyAgarAju - the composers name; which he used as the signature for his songs (sva-nAma-mudrA)

78. 39 para - Skt. word with a host of meanings.. Generally used in the sense of 'the other', the outre..

have highlighted those used by thyagaraja..

far , distant , remote (in space) , opposite , farther than , beyond , on the other or farther side of , extreme ; previous (in time) , former ; ancient , past ; later , future , next ; following , succeeding , subsequent ; final , last ; exceeding (in number or degree) , more than ; better or worse than , superior or inferior to , best or worst , highest

1.para lOka = the other world;
2. para-nArI-sodara = one who is like a brother to (all) other('s) women [i.e, women beside one's wife](he uses para-bhAma, para-satI, para-kaminI also)
3.parAtpara = one who is beyond everything!
4.para dESi = vagrant,literally an alien;
5. para-ninda/ para-dushaNa = criticising others
6. also used in the sense of parama,(superlative) (pAhi par(A)nanda sindhO);paradevi, paratattvam, are other examples..



79. 39 lEdu - It is not, illai, illa, nahin hai
(sAkSi lEd(a)nucu sAdhimpakE = Do not assert that there are no witnesses)

lē. is the base of the negative forms lEka, lEni, lEdu

ksrimech
Posts: 1050
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:25

Post by ksrimech »

keerthi wrote:Put it in the bhakti(or sahitya discussions) thread or as a new topic here under languages, and post a link here as well..
Keerti,

Here is it: http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... havam.html

Sorry that I have taken so long to write this piece. Also, I have taken liberty and written a longer piece than what you would have expected.

My research work here at school is taking all the time and I'm not able to come to the forum often if you have noticed.

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Just a quick note: The excellent work of translators here are already paying off. A few days back, I realized that all of a sudden I am paying attention to the 'further' lines of telugu lyrics. Before all this, what stayed with me was the 'starting line of the pallavi', 'A litte bit of the beginning of the anupallavi' and may be a bit of the charanam. Now, when the artist sings the second line of anupallavi and if it has some words that has been elaborated in this thread, then the whole line comes to life. And all this, without even consciously trying to pay attention to the lyrics. Nice! Good work all the translators and contributors. Looking forward to more and more. Thanks.

sridhar_ranga
Posts: 809
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 11:36

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Thought this thread needs to be bumped again.....thanks a ton for the great work by Isramesh, Chetana, Keerthi et al so far. Request all to help us get to 500 soon, so that we can get hold of VK's PDF guide :)

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

I was thinking of the same thing sridhar_rang, just to tell the translators and commentators we are still interested.

S.Govindaswamy
Posts: 47
Joined: 23 Oct 2006, 06:48

Post by S.Govindaswamy »

Vasanthakokilam- You wrote"
Just a quick note: The excellent work of translators here are already paying off. A few days back, I realized that all of a sudden I am paying attention to the 'further' lines of telugu lyrics."

You may be aware that Mr.V.Govindan in his blog site http://thyagaraja-vaibhavam.blogspot.com/ has been discussing Thyagaraja kritis with word by word meaning. He has covered all the songs and is going through a revision.

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

S.Govindaswamy, Thanks. Yes, V. Govindan's site is the ready reference. I scraped his full Thyagaraja krithis document to come up with the word list histogram.

gobilalitha
Posts: 2056
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 07:12

Post by gobilalitha »

I was all these days wondering why we miss the informative and educative contributions of Govindan, one of our knowledgable forumites .Now, I feel very happy that he is very busy with his highly informative contributions in his blogspot. gobilalitha

keerthi
Posts: 1309
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10

Post by keerthi »

will try and resume.. it takes soooo long to compose each instalment.. I probably am unnecessarily elaborate...

gn.sn42
Posts: 396
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 23:56

Post by gn.sn42 »

keerthi wrote:will try and resume.. it takes soooo long to compose each instalment.. I probably am unnecessarily elaborate...
For me, it's not unnecessary at all; the meanings and the details are valuable. Too often, I just extract the benefits of this forum and don't stop to express my appreciation; my apologies for that. Please do continue at your own pace; there's no deadline, and there are more people benefiting from your efforts than you might realize.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Post by arasi »

Yes, Keerthi. As gn sn says, your elaborations do help in that they make more sense. RasikAs can make connections with words they are familiar with in their own languages. This way, it is not a mere word meaning reference.

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

I echo fully what gn.sn42 and arasi say.

prabuddha
Posts: 63
Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 06:08

Post by prabuddha »

Perhaps I may offer a suggestion. Sri TS Parthasarathi's book on Thyagaraja Swami keerthanai's has a glossary of hundreds of words. It gives the Telugu word in Tamil script followed by its meaning in Tamil. It is a carefully compiled list. It renders perfect justice to to the translation job. For example, if Thyagaraja Swami uses a pre-modern register of Telugu, the Tamil equivalent is exactly pre-modern. As an example, a word like 'banTu' is rendered in Tamil as 'sEvakan' and not as say, 'aDi AL'.

I think the computer savvy should convert this glossary into a database and add information so that the original Telugu word and its meaning may also be viewed in English.

rshankar
Posts: 13754
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Post by rshankar »

I am a bit confused - what is the difference between 'sEvakan' (a borrowed word, I guess) and 'aDi AL'?

arunk
Posts: 3424
Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 21:41

Post by arunk »

aDi AL translates literally to "hit man" ;-) - of course it means someone to do your dirty work as well as other menial work

sevakan - "someone in your services as peon etc"

I would say both are similar but imply different connotations?

Arun

Post Reply