Know the Etymology: 8
Place Name of the Day: Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Trincomalee

திருகோணமலை
tirukōṇamalai

Thiru + koa'na + malai

The auspicious angular hill/promontory.

Thiru	A prefix meaning auspicious. Equivalent to S'ree in Sanskrit.
Koa'na	Angular (adj., koa'nam: noun).
Malai	Hill, hillock

In the 7th Century ACE, the Saivite saint Champanthar in his hymn refers to this place as koa'na maa malai, meaning 'the great angular hill'.

The word koa'na standing for angle, corner, end etc., is found in all South Asian languages and is a common prefix or suffix for place names, displaying the said geographical features.

Along the coast of Bay of Bengal, it is found in several places from Konarak (Sun Temple) in Orissa to Trincomalee.

The words thiru and malai are of common usage in Tamil since the times of the Changkam literature.

Trincomalee is also known in some obscure Tamil usages as Thirikoa'namalai (the triangular hill) and Thirukka'naamalai (the auspicious projecting hill).

Goka'n'na is the Sinhala and old Prakrit reference to the place.

In old Tamil usages, any curve or bend is koa (also koadu) and ka'nu is the knuckles or a spot that branches off.

It is relevant here to bring out the following paralells:

Gokanna is a place name of a heritage site in the Addu atoll of the Republic of Maldives. Gokar'na is a place name for a Saivite pilgrim centre in the Arabian Sea coast of Karnataka. Both places display sharp angular coastlines.

Trincomalee is a district headquarters in the Eastern Province.



First published: Wednesday, 20 June 2007, 01:00