Know the Etymology: 146
Place Name of the Day: Friday, 09 July 2010

Ki'n'niyaa

கிண்ணியா
Kiṇṇiyā

Ki'n'nai / Ki'n'ni+aay

The expanse of Ki'n'nai trees (Sonneratia caselaris)

Ki'n'nai	An estuarine or coastal mangrove tree, bearing a small, globular, casket shaped fruit (Cork Tree, Sonneratia caselaris); Ki'n'ni, Ki'n'nam: Small metal cup, casket etc (Tamil, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 1543); Kirilla: The Sinhala name of the tree.
Aay	Expanse (Eezham Tamil); Yaaya: Expanse (Sinhala); Paay: (noun) Spreading, extension (Tamil, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 4088). See column on Moo'laay for etymology.

Ki'n'nai is an estuarine or coastal mangrove tree commonly found in South and Southeast Asia. It is also found distributed in East Africa and Australia.

Known in English as the Cork Tree, its botanical synonyms are Sonneratia caselaris, Sonneratia acida, Sonneratia lanceolata and Rhizophora caseolaris.

Kirilla is the Sinhala name of the tree.

The Tamil name Ki'n'nai for the tree probably originated from the shape of its fruit that resembles a small cup, casket, receptacle etc known in Tamil as Ki'n'ni or Ki'n'nam (Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 1543)

The suffix Aay in Eezham Tamil and Yaaya in Sinhala mean an expanse of land. See the column on Moo'laay for etymology.

Ki'n'niyaa is a village of estuarine landscape located at the coast of Koddiyaarak-kudaa (Koddiyar Bay) of Trincomalee.




Some related place names:

Ki'n'naiyadi: Ki'n'nai-adi: The locality of Ki'n'nai trees. This is an estuarine coastal village south of Vaazhaichcheanai in the Koa'ra'laippattu Central division of Batticaloa district.



First published: Friday, 09 July 2010, 01:36