universal significance on Tamil Language 2/3 - Dr. G. John Samuel
ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TAMIL
LANGUAGE AND THE INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY OF
LANGUAGES.
A Project of universal significance on Tamil Language
2/3
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The Tamil traders were followed by the Tamil Buddhist monks who
travelled to various parts of Asia with a view to spread the teachings of the
Buddha which was deeply rooted in the Tamil soil during the later part of the
Sangam age up to the age of the Pallavas when Bodhidharma and many other monks
travelled to China, and East Asian countries of Korea, Japan etc. The naval
power of the later Cholas bring Tamil language and culture closer to many
countries of South East Asia. The advent of the European traders, Missionaries
and the British rulers enabled the spread of Tamil language and culture to
Europe and many Tamil lexical forms entered into all European languages.
Now, it is a matter of deep pride that no other linguistic
community of the Indian peninsula has had such a wide range of commercial and
cultural contacts with other countries from a very remote past to the present
days, as the Tamils. The language and culture of the Tamils have exerted an
extensive and profound impact on the linguistic and cultural heritages of the
major part of the world. All these glories have been thrown into oblivion in
the middle ages because of the unfortunate intrusion of Sanskrit learning and
the patronage extended to this language by the Tamil kings.
The vibrant Tamil diaspora settled at present in more than 60
different countries are considered to be as powerful as the Jewish community.
Consequently any indepth and holistic research on Tamils in the present day
should take into consideration the three major components of the Tamil ethos
namely the native Tamils, the Tamil diaspora and the international Tamil
scholars of non - Tamil origin.
The Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu fought continuously for the
revival of the past glories of the Tamil land and to save this great culture
from the onslaught of the Aryan forces. Their efforts coupled with the great
achievements of the European missionaries and the contributions of
international scholars of non-Tamil origin brought out drastic changes in the
milieu and mentality of Tamil Nadu and a new way of looking at Tamil Culture as
a significant component of world culture was inaugurated in due course. New
projects on Tamil language and literature from this perspective are now taken
up by the leading research centres and universities all over the
world.
One such project on Tamil language with a global perspective is
the preparation of a multi volume Etymological dictionary for Tamil language
which highlights the relationship between Tamil and the Indo-European family of
languages announced in the Tamilnadu Govt's budget for the financial year 2022
- 2023 with an estimate of Rs. 2 crores. It is clearly mentioned in this budget
that the preparation of this ambitious project is in line with scientific
objective methodology giving no rooms for baseless inferences of subjective
character and it should be monitored by a committee of Tamil etymologists.
This is indeed a great venture and a daring effort of the
Government of Tamil Nadu in its attempt to earn global status to our mother
tongue. The Hon'ble Chief Minister deserves the appreciation of all
international Tamilologists for his firmness and courage coupled with deep
reverence to the great Tamil ethos and his emotional attachment to our great
heritage. This announcement made on behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu is
completely in harmony with the supreme international dignity which our Tamil
language has earned in the present socio-political milieu.
Now, Tamil is not merely a provincial language as it was conceived
before the 18th century. It is not
even merely a national language of this country. It has grown to the level of
an international language, with firm roots in the Indian soil, and aerial roots
in Sri Lanka and Singapore - where it has been given the status of an official
language, as well as around sixty different Diaspora countries all over the
world where Tamil immigrants live in groups for centuries together. Among the
Indian languages, Tamil alone enjoys a global status equal to Sanskrit, in that
it has been subject to serious academic research in leading universities and
research centres the world over.
Unlike Sanskrit, it has a dual status - both classical and modern
- a language throbbing with life. Several academicians of the world have now
put their heart and soul into Tamil studies, comparing Tamil or Dravidian
language with the other families of languages, translating Tamil classics into
many of the languages of Europe and Asia, and undertaking in depth academic
studies on the linguistic and cultural traditions of the Tamil speaking
community with a wider global perspective.
The proposed etymological dictionary project announced in the
Legislative Assembly with a wider objective academic perspective will
definitely cater to the needs of a wide ranging scholars and public at the
international level - from the Tamil native speakers of the Indian peninsula,
the Tamil diaspora community living in more than sixty countries all over the
world and international Tamil scholars of non - Tamil origin belonging to
various countries of the world.
[To be continued]
Dr. G. John Samuel
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