Translation:Tolkappiyam/Shorted-u coalescence

by Tolkappiyar

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• Source in Tamil

The first numbers at the end of the each translation of the verse denote the serial number of the verse of the section and the succeeding second one denotes the serial number of the verse of the chapter of source-book.

77 verses

First section, verses 407-483

Translation

• Example to the verse, cited by Elamburanar, an interpreter to the literature ‘Tolkappiyam’ who belongs to 11th century A.D. and others is given indented star-mark.

This chapter speaks on coalescences on preceding words ending with shorted-[u]

Six structural forms of shorted-[u]

• There are six kind of words structurally formed with the end shorted-[u]: 1 upon two-letter, 2 upon vowel, 3 upon depending-h, 4 upon hard consonant, 5 upon soft consonant and 6 upon medial consonant. 407/1
• That u upon two consonants does not be considered ‘medial upon’. 408/2
• One unit of sound - In coalescence, the shorted u with half unit sound will be articulated with one unit of sound before consonant-initial word, in both case-sense and non-case-sense. 409/3
• Half unit of sound of its nature – That ‘upon hard consonant’ before the word with the initial of hard consonant, the shorted u will be articulated with half unit of sound. 410/4
• Shorted [i] – The shorted u elides its last and coalesces with [i] appearing before the word having initial [y]. 411/5

Short u ‘upon two-letter’ and ‘upon vowel’

• Short u ‘upon two-letter’ and ‘upon vowel’ coalesces with augmentation of the hard-initial of the succeeding word;
  • [yaadu] + [thalai] = [yaattuth thalai]=head of a sheep, [muyir’u] + [thalai] =[muyir’r’uth thalai]=head of a red-ant. 412/6
• Coalescence without augmentation is there in cases.
  • [n,aaku kaal]=head of a calf, [varaku kathir]=reap of yellow-millet. 413/7

Short u ‘upon medial consonant’ and ‘upon depending h’

• These categories coalesce as the categories above;
  • [the’l’ku kaal]=leg of a flea, [e’hu kaal]=bottom of a spear. 414/8
• Short u upon hard-consonant and soft-consonant coalesce with the augmentation of succeeding hard consonant. That upon soft consonant also has an inter-change, soft to hard in the preceding word, then coalesces as above, in cases.
  • ([kokkuk kaal]=leg of crane, [kuranguk kaal]=leg of monkey).
  • ([kurakkuk kaal]= leg of monkey). 415/9
• That upon hard consonant, denoting a tree, coalesces with empty morpheme [am];
  • [thee’kkangoo’du]=branch of the tree teak. 416/10

mixed view

• There are some tree names which would not inter-change to hard consonant.
  • ([kurunthangoo’du]=branch of tree ‘Kurundtu’, [punkankoo’du]=branch of tree ‘Punku’). 417/11
• Some names with short-u-end ‘upon two letter’ and ‘upon hard consonant’ coalesce with empty morpheme;
  • [ee’r’u] + [koo’l’] = [ee’r’ankool’]=bull-fight, and [vatu] + [poo’r] = [vattampoo’r]=Vattu-gambling fight. 418/12
• There are words that come without eliding and coalesce with empty morpheme;
  • ([kunr’k kuukai]=awl on mount). 419/13
• Numeral terms coalesce as discussed earlier;
  • [onr’an kaayam] = one body. 420/14
• Names [van’du] and [pe’n’du] coalesce with empty morpheme [in];
  • [van’din kaal]=leg of beetle, [pe’n’din kai]=kand of a woman. 421/15
• The name [pe’n’du] coalesces also with the empty morpheme [an];
  • [pe’n’dan kai] =kand of a woman). 422/16
• Words [yaathu]=which and [ahthu]=that, coalesce as discussed in earlier (chapter 6);
  • [yaathan koo’du]=branch of which, [athan koo’du]=branch of that. 423/17
• Depending phoneme [h] stands without eliding before vowel-initial-word;
  • [ahthadai]=leaf of that. 424/18
• Before the words having consonant-initial, phoneme [h] elides. 425/19
• In ‘non-case sense, all the words coalesce without change. 426/20
• It coalesces with doubling the same hard-initial succeeding;
  • [kokuc cir’ithu]=crane is small. 427/21
• Shortened-u upon soft-consonant in the word beginning with lengthened demonstrative and interrogative letters coalesces as above;
  • [aankuk kon’daan]=there, he got it, [yaankuk kon’daan]= where he got it. 428/22
• The demonstrative word above coalesces without dobling also. 429/23
• Words denoting that day and past-day coalesce without doubling;
  • [inr’u kon’daan]=today he got it, [pan’du kon’daan]=he got it long ago. 430/24
• The word [un’du]=is, coalesces before words having hard-consonant-initial either with some elision or without change;
  • [ul’ porul’] or [un’du porul’]=the thing is being. 431/25
• Two words denoting directions coalesce with an empty-morpheme in-between;
  • [vadakkee’ ther’ku]=north and south). 432/26
• The words above, denoting corner directions, coalesce with some elision in the preceding word;
  • [vada kil”akku]=north-east, [then mee’r’kku]=south-west. 433/27

Names denoting numerals

• All numeral names in Tamil denoting one to eight coalesce after the numeral name
  • [paththu]=ten, withsome modifications in the preceding word; [pathinonr’u]=eleven, etc. 434/28
• Before the name [iran’du]=two, the preceding word [paththu] will stand changing into [pan];
  • [panniran’du]=twelve 435/29
• Before the name [aayiram]=thousand, it coalesces in the same way pointed above. 436/30
• The preceding name [paththu] coalesces as above even before the names of measurement denoting weight and capacity. 437/31
• The succeeding name [pahthu]=ten coalesces before the preceding names in Tamil denoting one to nine with some modifications. 438/32
• The preceding name [onr’u]=one stands as [oru]. 439/33
• The preceding name [iran’du]=two stands as [iru]. 440/34
• The preceding names [muunr’u]=three and [aar’u]=six coalesce as [mupphthu]=thirty and [ar’ujahthu]=sixty shortening their initial. 441/35
• The preceding name [n.aanku]=four stands in the eliding form of [n,aal] in its assimilating mood [n,aar’] to coalesce with the Tamil word denoting ten;
  • [n,aar;pahthu]=forty. 442/36
• The preceding name [ain,thu]=five stands as [ai], eliding its last;
  • [aimpathu]=fifty. 443/37
• The preceding name [e’ttu]=eight stands in its root [e’n’] in coalescence. 444/38
• The preceding name [onpathu]=nine becomes changed along with its succeeding word and coalesces as [thon’n’uur’u]=ninety. 445/39

Before succeeding names of measurements

• The succeeding names denoting the measurement of capacity coalesce with the preceding names of numerals as spoken above. 446/40
• Name [muunr’u]=three stands as [mu];
  • [muppaanai]=three pots of capacity. 447/41
• Name [ain,thu]=five stands in its eliding form as [ai] to coalesce;
  • [aimpaanai]= five pots of capacity. 448/42
• These coalescences occur in the succeeding names of capacity having initials [k], [s], [th] and [p]. 449/43
• The preceding name [e’ttu] stands in its root, [e’n’] even if the succeeding names come with the initials [n,], [m] and [v] to coalesce. 450/44
• Tamil-names denoting five and three also coalesce as above. 451/45
• Name [muunr’u] stands in the form of [mu] and coalesces before the succeeding name having [v]-initial. 452/46

Before the succeeding words with vowel-initial

• Name [n,aanku] stands in its root [n,aal] to coalesce with these succeeding. 453/47
• Name [ain,thu] stands as above with its root [ai] in coalescence. 454/48
• Names [ontru] and [iran’du], stand as [oo’r] and [iir] respectively, before the words having vowel-initial. 455/49
• Numeral-names [muunr’u], [n,aanku] and [ain,thu] stand with their eliding form [mu], [n,aal] and [ai] respectively before the names denoting measurement with [v]-initial. 456/50
• Before the name [ul”akku], the preceding name [muunr’u] may also stand as [muu]. 457/51
• Numeral-name [aar’u] stands as it is before names of measurement with vowel-initial. 458/52
• Numeral-name [onpathu]=nine stands as it is and coalesces with the empty morpheme [in], before the names of measurements. 459/53

Before the numeral name [n,uur’u]=hundred

• The said terms is applicable to the preceding numerals coalescing with succeeding numeral-[n,uur’u]. 460/54
• The preceding name [muunr’u] stands as [muun] after elision and then changes its ending consonant [n] to [n,] 461/55
• There is no change in the eliding premiers of the names [n,aanku] and [ain,thu] 462/56
• The preceding numeral [onpathu]=nine coalesces with so many modifications. There the succeeding name [n,uur’u] is replaced with [aayiram];
  • ([thol’l’aayiram]) 463/57

Before the numeral name [aayiram]=thousand

• Before the numeral name [aayiram]=thousand, the numeral names [ontru] and [iran’du] stand eliding as [or] and [ir] to coalesce. 464/58
• The premiers [or] and [ir] may also stand lengthening as [oo’r] and [iir] to coalesce. 465/59
• Only the initial letter of the numeral name [muunr’u] stands in coalescence and coalesce with additional [v] in-between;
  • ([muvvaayiram]=three thousand). 466/60
• The numeral name [n,aanku]=four coalesces with its premier [n,aal]. 467/61
• The numeral name [ain,thu]=five coalesces with its premier [ai] with an additional interlude [y];
  • [aiyayiram]=five thousand. 468/62
• The numeral name [aar’u]=six coalesces with the changing form [ar’u];
  • (ar’aayiram=six thousand). 469/63
• The numeral name [onpathu]=nine coalesces without change, but with empty morpheme [in] in-between;
  • (onpathinaayiram)=nine thousand. 470/64
• The succeeding name [n,uur’aayiram]=hundred thousand is also coalesces as spoken above. 471/65

After the name [n,uur’u]=hundred, etc.

• Name [n,uur’u] coalesces with augmentation in-between before the numeral-names from [onr’u] to [onpathu]. 472/66
• The succeeding tens (pahthu, irupahthu, etc.) also coalesce in the same way. 473/67
• Succeeding names denoting measurement of capacity and weight will also coalesce with the terms above. 474/68
• Name [n,uur’u] with numeral prefix will also coalesce with the terms above. 475/69
• Before thee succeeding numeral-name [aayiram] it coalesces with the empty morpheme [in]. 476/70
• Numeral-names with prefix coalesce with the empty morpheme [in] before the succeeding names of measurement denoting capacity and weight. 477/71
• The preceding basic numerals denoting one and two coalesce with their form [oru] and [iru] before the succeeding words having the phoneme: either hard consonants, [nj], [n,], [m], [y] or [v], the learned says. 478/72
• Names denoting one and two, stand as [oo’r] and [iir] before the words having vowel or [y] –initial. 479/73
• The proceeding numeral-names denoting one to nine coalesce without any modification before the succeeding name [maa]=the fraction-number denoting one by twenty. 480/74

Residuals in the section

• The preceding word with ending consonant [l] or [l’], coalesces along with the empty morpheme [um] or [ke’l”u] and other increments, in the sense of case relation, in poems. 481/75
• These are some of the terms that could not be discussed in coalescence: flowing-term denoting suggestion, quality or sound, particles relating to all kinds of names, particle cohering verb; particle denoting the same numeral-name, etc. 482/76
• The coalescence of deformed words that appears in poems and usage, not discussed in, will be considered to accept, the learned says. 483/77