Know the Etymology: 331
Place Name of the Day: Wednesday, 05 March 2014

Wahala-kananke, Poramba-kananke

வாஹல கனங்கெ, போரம்ப₃ கனங்கெ
Vāhala kanaṅke
Pōrampa kanaṅke

Waahala+kanangke
Poaramba+kanangke

The entrance part of the forest

The end or exit part of the forest

Waahala	Also Waasala: Door, gate, gate or entrance to a city, royal gate, entrance or antechamber of a palace (Sinhala); Vaayil, Vaayal, Vaasal: Doorway, entrance, gate, place, king's court, (Tamil, Malayalam, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 5354); from the verb root Vaa: To come (Tamil, DED 5270); Vaay: Mouth, opening, entrance (Tamil, DED 5352); Vaakili: Door (Telugu, DED 5354); Baagilu: Door (Kannada). See column on Wahalkada.
Poaramba	1. Changed form of Paaramba; Paara: End, termination, extremity, boundary, limit (Sinhala); Bringing across, further bank, furthest end (Sanskrit, CDIAL 8100); Further bank (Pali, Prakrit, CDIAL 8100); 2. Poa: To go (Tami, DED 4572); Poaki'ra, Poa'ra: Exiting (Tamil, from the root Poa, DED 4572); Pu'ram: Outside, exterior, that which is foreign (Tamil, DED 4333); Pu'rampu: The exterior, outside (Tamil, DED 4333)
Kanangke	From Kaanan-ge (Ge: genitive case); Kaanana: Forest, grove (Sinhala); Forest (Sanskrit, CDIAL 3028 cites Dravidian etymology); Kaa, Kaal, Kaan, Kaanam, Kaanakam, Kaanal, Kaavam: Forest (Tamil, DED 1418)

The Sinhala place name component Poaramba means opposite of Waahala (doorway or entrance), as could be seen in the two adjacent place names, Waahala-Kananke and Poaramba-Kananke, the two parts of the place called Kananke.

Waahala in Sinhala is a cognate of Tamil/ Dravidian Vaasal, Vaayal and Vaayil (DED 5354), meaning the same as in the Sinhala word. See column on Wahalkada for etymological discussions.

Poaramba, meaning exit or end, could be related to both Indo-Aryan and Dravidian etymologies.

In the first possibility Poaramba is a changed form coming from the word Paara, which in Sinhala means, end, termination, extremity, boundary or limit; in Sanskrit means, bringing across, further bank or furthest end, and in Pali/ Prakrit means, further bank (CDIAL 8100).

In another possibility, Poaramba corresponds to the Tamil/ Dravidian verb root Poa (DED 4572), meaning to go or to go out, which is opposite to the verb root Vaa (DED 5270), from which Vaasal/ Waahala has derived. Poaramba may also correspond to Pu'ram or Pu'rampu in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 4333), meaning the out side or the exterior.

Kanangke is related to Kaanana in Sinhala, meaning a forest or grove, and is a word of Dravidian etymology corresponding to Kaa, Kaan, Kaanam, Kaanakam and Kaanal in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 1418).

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Wahala-kananke and Poramba-kananke are two adjacent villages or two parts of the place Kaananke in the Welipitiya division of Matara district. A forest called Kudagal-kanda reserve forest is located close by.

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Some related place names:

Poaramba: The boundary or limit; Akuressa division, Matara district

First published: Wednesday, 05 March 2014, 16:47