Know the Etymology: 393
Place Name of the Day: Monday, 02 March 2015

Dadayan-thalaawa

த₃ட₃யன் தலாவ
Daḍayan-talāva

Dadayam+thalaawa

The hunting range of open glade

Dadayam

also Dadayama: hunting, shooting game, taking game in anyway (Sinhala); Dadayam-kara'navaa: to shoot or hunt game (Sinhala); Dadayak-kaarayaa: hunter (Sinhala); 1. Thadi: (verb) to kill, to cut off, to hew down (Tamil, DED 3029); Thadivu, Thadithal: cutting, killing (Tamil, DED 3029); Thadiya: to cut (Tamil, DED 3029); Tatiyuka: to cut off (Malayalam, DED 3029); Ta'ring: to slaughter, to cut, to cut down (Brahui, DED 3029); Thadi, Thadivu: (noun) meat, a chunk of meat, a cut-piece of flesh (Tamil, Natti'nai, 60: 4; Pu'ranaanoo'ru: 396: 15; 320: 13); Dada-mas: flesh, the flesh of quadrupeds only (Sinhala); 2. Thadam, Thadayam: footstep, way, path (Tamil, DED 3024); trail of animals (Tamil usage); Dadaawatea: wandering (Sinhala); 3. Thadam: snare, trap (Tamil); Thadavu: prison (Tamil, Malayalam, DED 3031); from Thadai: check, obstruction (Tamil, DED 3031); Thadu: (verb) to check, block, hinder, curb (Tamil, DED 3031); Dada: tame, obedient (Sinhala); Dadayaa, Dada-meemaa, Dada-meevaa: tamed buffalo used as a decoy in catching wild ones (Sinhala, Meemaa, Meevaa: buffalo in Sinhala; Mai, Meathi: buffalo in old Tamil, Akanaanoo'ru 41: 1; Malaipadukadaam 111, DED); 4. Thada: expanse, broad, large (Tamil, DED 3020); 5. Dada: wilderness, forest (Sinhala); Dadakam: forest work (Sinhala, Sorata); Da'ndaka-karman: forest work (Sanskrit, CDIAL 6130); from Da'nda: stick, club (Sanskrit, CDIAL 6128); Da'ndaka: name of a forest in Deccan (Sanskrit, CDIAL 6129); CDIAL 6130 traces Dadayam in Sinhala to the above etymology. However, Da'nda itself is probably not Indo-Aryan, but Dravidian or Munda, according to CDIAL 6128 and 5527; Tha'ndu: stalk, stem (Tamil, DED 3056); Thadi: stick, staff, club (Tamil, DED 3030); Thadavu: tree (Tamil, Changkam diction, Ku'runthokai, 160: 1-4). See columns on Poruwa-da'nda and Dandu-hæ'la

Thalaawa

open glade or meadow, tableland, open country without jungle in the mountainous districts (Sinhala); Tharavai: open grassland in hard and dry alkaline stretches along lagoons which may be inundated during rains (Eezham Tamil, Jaffna dialect); waste or uncultivated land (Tamil, DED 3097); Thalavai: open grassland (Eezham Tamil, Batticaloa place names, note the R/ L interchange); 1. Tha'rai: (verb) to be or become bald (Tamil, Kaliththokai, 65: 6, DED 3145); (noun) dry field (Tamil, 7th century CE, Theavaaram, 7: 50: 8); cultivation field (Tamil, inscription, c. 1000 CE, TAS, ii, p. 173-207); 2. Tharisu, Tharusu: land lying waste or fallow (Tamil, DED 3097, inscriptions, 1132 CE, SII, xiv, 229); cognates in Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu (DED 3097); 3. Tharaay: tableland (Tamil, Changkam diction, Malaipadukadaam 460); Thalaa: high ground, hill (Sinhala); 4. Thalai: place, surface (Tamil, Ku'runthokai, 6: 3; Natti'nai related to DED 3103); (verb) expanding surface (Tamil, Paripaadal, 6: 3); 5. Thalai: as in Pa'ran-thalai: desert, village in a desert (Tamil, DED 4026); 6. Sthala: dry land (Sanskrit, CDIAL 13744); Thala: dry ground (Pali, Prakrit, CDIAL 13744). See column on Tharavai, Talaawa

Dadayam in Sinhala meaning hunting is traced to Dada meaning forest and Dadakam meaning forest work in Sinhala (Sorata), which are eventually traced to Da'ndaka-karman in Sanskrit meaning forest work (CDIAL 6130). However, while CDIAL itself traces Da'nda to probable non-Aryan origins (CDIAL 6128, 5527), Tha'ndu and Thadi meaning stem of tree are listed as Dravidian (DED 3056, 3030). Thadavu in Changkam Tamil diction meant a tree.

Even though there are many Dada-related phrases in Sinhala in connection to forest or wilderness, Dadayam meaning hunting in Sinhala may probably be related to another etymology, as in Sinhala there are also the phrases Dada-mas meaning flesh of animals and Dadayaa meaning a tamed buffalo used as a decoy in hunting.

Dadayam in the sense of hunting in Sinhala is probably related to the verb root Thadi in old Tamil, meaning to kill or to cut (DED 3029). Thadi and Thadivu in Changkam Tamil meaning a chunk of meat or a cut piece of flesh are comparable to Dada-mas in Sinhala meaning flesh of animals.

In other etymological possibilities, while Thadayam means footstep and trail of animals in Tamil (DED 3024), which is related to hunting, Thadam in Tamil means a snare, trap etc., and related words mean confinement, check, curb etc. (DED 3031). Dadayam in Sinhala meaning taking a game in anyway, and Dadayaa in Sinhala meaning a tamed decoy used in hunting may be cognates of Thadam.

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Thadi meaning cutting and killing:

“Thaathai vaa'laal thadiyavum paddanan” (Ma'nimeakalai, 22: 79)

“தாதை வாளால் தடியவும் பட்டனன்” (மணிமேகலை, 22: 79)

He was cut and killed by the sword of his father


Thadi meaning meat:

Maan thadi puzhukkiya pulavu naa'ru kuzhisi (Pu'ra:naanoo'ru, 168: 9)

மான் தடி புழுக்கிய புலவு நாறு குழிசி (புறநானூறு, 168: 9)

The pot smelling flesh as deer meat has been cooked in it

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Dadayan-thalaawa is in Uhana division of Ampaa'rai district. It is an area of aborigine hunters.

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Some related place names:

Dada as forest:

Dada-gamuwa: The forest village or the village in the wilderness; Attanagalla division, Gampaha district

Dada-hoa-gama: The path of the forest stream; or the village of the forest stream; Harispattuwa division, Kandy district

Dadalla: The forest; Galle Four Gravets division, Galle district. Dada+la (La is an affix in Sinhala)

Weera-dadaana: The forest or Weera trees; Kotavehera division, Kurunegala district

First published: Monday, 02 March 2015, 21:05