Know the Etymology: 53
Place Name of the Day: Tuesday, 13 June 2017

Ūri, Ūriyaṉ, Ūrik-kāṭu, Ūra-tīvu, Ūṟal, Uppūṟal

ஊரி, ஊரியன், ஊரிக்காடு, ஊரதீவு, ஊறல், உப்பூறல்
Ūri, Ūriyaṉ, Ūrik-kāṭu, Ūra-tīvu, Ūṟal, Uppūṟal

Ūri
Ūri+aṉ
Ūri+kāṭu
Ūri+tīvu/ Ūral-tīvu
Ūṟal
Uppu+ūṟal

The saline land

The place of the saline land

The saline scrubland

The saline islet

The marsh or muddy land

The salt marsh

Ūri1	a saline stretch of land by the side of a lagoon or sea (Eezham Tamil place-names, as in Ūri, Ūriyāṉ, Ūrik-kāṭu, Ūra-tīvu etc); Ūru-bim: saline soil, salty land, "Luṇukara bima" (Sinhala, Sorata); 1. Ūṟu: (verb) to ooze, become moist with oozing water (Tamil. Telugu, DED 761); Ūral: sediment, lees, dregs (Malayalam, DED 761); cognates in 15 Dravidian languages; see box on Ūṟal; 2. Ūṣara: saline soil (Sanskrit, CDIAL 2440); Ūsara: salt soil (Pali, Prakrit, CDIAL 2440); Ūṣa: salt ground, soil impregnated with saline particles, sterile soil (Sanskrit, CDIAL 2349, Monier Williams); 3. Uvar: (verb) to taste saltish, be brackish; (noun) saltishness, brackishness, brackish soil, sea (Tamil, DED 2674b); Uvari: brackish water, sea (Tamil, DED 2674b)
Ūri2	cone-shaped sea snails/ marine gastropod mollusks; their shells found in beaches and in sea/ lagoon-receded stretches of land (Eezham Tamil usage); a kind of snail (Tamil, MTL cites Pondicherry usage); Ūral: shellfish, seashell (Tamil, MTL, Piṅkalam, 8: 333); Ūr: (verb) to move slowly, creep, crawl (Tamil, DED 749)
Ūṟal	a wet and salty land, usually found along the lagoon coast or seacoast (Eezham Tamil place names as in Uppūṟal); sediment, lees, dregs (Malayalam, DED 761); Ūral: wetness, "Īram" (Tamil, Kathiraiverpillai); Ūṟaṇi: wet, marshy land, "Cēṟṟu nilam" (Tamil, MTL); good moist land where water oozes out, "Kacivu nilam" (Tamil, MTL citing Jaffna Ditionary); Ūru-bim: saline soil, salty land, "Luṇukara bima" (Sinhala, Sorata); Ūṟu: (verb) to ooze, become moist with oozing water (Tamil, Telugu, DED 761, cognates in 15 Dravidian languages)
Aṉ	(as in Ūriyaṉ: Ūri+aṉ) attributive suffix (Tamil, Brahmi inscriptions, ETE 84): (noun) of that attribute, " Aṉṉa, At-taṉmaiyaṉa" (Tamil, Caṅkam diction, Paripāṭal, 4: 64)

Ūri is a component that comes as a prefix as well as suffix in some Eezham Tamil place names.

From the geographical context one could deduce that the term means a salty stretch of land found by the side of a lagoon or sea. Sinhala has a cognate Ūru-bim, meaning saline soil or salty land. The etymology could be explained through Tamil verbs as well as Sanskrit nouns (see box on Ūri 1).

In Tamil, Ūri also means cone-shaped sea snail shells usually found in abundance in sea-receded coastal tracts (see box on Ūri 2). But the salty land meaning seems to be more appropriate

Ūṟal is another toponymic term found in a few Eezham Tamil place names. The contexts show that they are coastal marshes. A wet marshy land is Ūṟaṇi in Tamil, coming from the verb Ūṟu (see box on Ūṟal).

The Aṉ suffix coming in the place name Ūriyaṉ is typical to Eezham Tamil place names. It is an attributive suffix and its usage in the context of place names could be seen in Tamil Brahmi inscriptions (ETE 84).

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Ūri is a locality adjacent to Kaḷapūmi in Kārainakar Island of Jaffna district. This is a saline land adjacent to Jaffna Lagoon

Ūriyaṉ is in Kandavalai division of Kilinochchi district. This is an open land bordering the Elephant Pass Lagoon. Part of it has become paddy field. The adjacent place is called Uppāṟu (Uppu+āṟu: salty stream)

Ūrik-kāṭu is noticed as a place name in Karainakar Island of Jaffna district; a locality name in Maṇṭaitīvu South of Jaffna district and in Valveṭṭituṟai in Vadamaradchi North division of Jaffna district (the last two are noted by Balasundaram, p. 155, p. 93). All of them are coastal stretches.

Ūra-tīvu is in Puṅkuṭutīvu North of the Islands division of Jaffna district. This is a small islet attached to Puṅkuṭutīvu (Delft OIS).

Ūṟal is a locality in Arippu in Musali division of Mannar district. This is an estuarine bank, located on the northern side of the mouth where Aruvi-āṟu enters the Gulf of Mannar (Murunkan OIS).

Uppūṟal (Uppu+ūṟal) is a place in Seruvila division of Trincomalee district. This is a marsh found on the sandbank lying between Ullaikkaḻi Lagoon and Indian Ocean (Trincomalee OIS)

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Some related place names:

Māppāṇa-ūri: a locality in Kārainakar, Jaffna. This is stretch by the lagoon channel between Kārainakar Island and Jaffna Peninsula. The prefix differentiates it from the other Ūri in the island. Māppāṇaṉ/ Māppāṇar: a title of some of the chieftains of Jaffna and Vaṉṉi, in the times of the kingdom and later; as in Ceṇpaka Māppāṇaṉ (a chieftain in the times of the Kingdom of Jaffna, Vaiyāpāṭal); Don Phillip Nalla Māppāṇaṉ (a chieftain in Vaṉṉi, Dutch records); Kantaiya Māppāṇar (hereditary trustee of the Nallūr temple in the times of Ārumuka Nāvalar); Mā-pāṇaṉ: probably from the connections between Pāṇar and Jaffna;

Ūriyaṉ-kuḷam: Karaichchi, Kilinochchi. This is a place near Ūriyaṉ

Ūriyaṉ-kaṯṭu: Koralaippattu North, Batticaloa (Kathiraveli OIS). Kaṭṭu: see columns 30 and 228

Ūrip-pulam: a locality in Mātakal (Arul Subramaniyam). Pulam: expanse, place, cultivation field

Ūriḻaiyaṉ-teṇi: Ūṟaliyāṉ-teṇi?; Valveṭṭittuṟai, Jaffna (Balasundaram, p. 93). Teṇi: see column 277

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Ūriyāva: Anaimadu, Puttalam

Ūraliyāgāra: Ūraliya+agāra?; Madampe, Puttalam

Ūrala: Nagoda, Galle

Ūraliya: Madampe, Puttalam. This is a marshy area

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Revised: Tuesday, 13 June 2017, 18:30

First published: Thursday, 16 August 2007, 01:00