Know the Etymology: 429
Place Name of the Day: Saturday, 21 November 2015

Kadawatha, Galle Four Gravets

கட₃வ[த்]த,
கா₃ல்ல 4 கிற₃வெற்ஸ்
Kaḍavata, Gālla Four Gravets

Kada+watha
Galle Four Gravets

The border post

Galle town area within the four border posts

Kadawatha	Passage entrance, city gate, a fortified watch house at the entrance of a city or at the borders of a territory; “Maargadwaaraya, Nuwara toratuwa, Pa’laataka seemaawehi hoa nagaradwaarayehi praakaaraadiyen aawara’naya ka’la murageya” (Sinhala, Sorata); post or station, gravet (Sinhala, Clough); = Gravet: watch house on the boundaries (a colonial term coming from Sinhala, Codrington); Kada+watha: literally meaning entrance passage or entrance post or entrance fortification; Kada: entrance, “Doratuwa”, passage, “Maargaya” (Sinhala, Sorata); Kada: (verb) to pass through, traverse, cross, go, proceed (Tamil, DED 1109); Kadai: end, limit, boundary, entrance, gate (Tamil, DED 1109); Kadavai: way, passing over (Tamil, DED 1109); a barrier, station or locality to pass through (Eezham Tamil place names); Wath: 1. area or site of a house, “Gebima”, (Sinhala, Sorata); 2. enclosure or fortification made of hedge stakes, “I’ni situvaa bændi aawara’naya”, (Sinhala, Sorata); 3. road, way, “Pathaya”, (Sinhala, Sorata); Vaastu: site of house, house (Sanskrit, CDIAL 11606); Vartman: track of a wheel, path (Sanskrit, CDIAL 11366). See Kada3 in column Habara-kada and also column on Iluppaik-kadavai
Gravet	watch house on the boundaries (colonial English word adopting Dutch and Portuguese usages but originally coming from Kadawatha; Glossary of Native Foreign and Anglicized Words Commonly Used in Ceylon, Codrington, H.W., 1924); Garaveto: Kadawatha rendered into Portuguese; Gravetten: Dutch version of Garaveto
Galle	a harbour city in the Southern Province. See column on Galle

The term Kadawatha and its renderings, Garaveto, Gravetten and Gravet into the colonial usages of Portuguese, Dutch and English in the island, mean a border post at the entry point into a territory or a city.

Taken as a Sinhala word, Kadawatha is a phrase of two components, Kada and Watha, the former is of Dravidian etymology and the latter Indo-Aryan.

Kada in Sinhala, meaning an entrance or passage (Doratuwa, Maargaya: Sorata) in this context, corresponds to Kada as a verb meaning to pass through, cross, go, etc., in Tamil (DED 1109). The related nouns in Tamil are Kadai meaning an end, limit, boundary, gate, entrance etc., and Kadavu/ Kadavai meaning a way as well as a locality on the way to pass through or cross over. All of them are listed as words of Dravidian etymology (DED 1109).

For the suffix Watha, the fitting shades of meanings in Sinhala are: the site of a house (Gebima), a fortified enclosure (I’ni situvaa bændi aawara’naya) and a road or way (Pathaya). While the former two meanings could be related to Vaastu in Sanskrit (CDIAL 11606), the third one could either be a form of Patha (P/ V change) or a derivation of Vartman meaning a path in Sanskrit (CDIAL 11366).

Coming from Kadawatha, Grevet became an English administrative term in some parts of the island, especially in defining jurisdiction or limits of cities. The colonial usage was probably peculiar to the island, as the term has not been listed by the Anglo-Indian glossary, Hobson-Jobson, prepared in 1886.

* * *

Kadawatha is found as a place name in Naula division of Matale district and Wennapuwa division of Puththa’lam district. There is another place by the same name in Colombo city also.

Galle Four Gravets is the name of the division that covers the area of Galle city.

* * *

Some related place names:


Kadawatha:

Kadawath-gama: The village at the entrance post or border post; Yatinuwara division, Kandy district; Medawachchiya division, Anuradhapura district

Kadawath Rambæwa: The border post part of the Rambæwa village; or the Rambæwa village, which is a border post; Medawachchiya division, Anuradhapura district

Kadawath-maduwa: The border post shed; Welikanda division, Polonnaruwa district


Gravet:

Kandy Four Gravets: The Kandy town area within the four border posts; Kandy Four Gravets division, Kandy district

Matara Four Gravets: Matara town area within the four border posts; Matara Four Gravets division, Matara district

Trincomalee Town and Gravets: The Trincomalee town and the area within the border posts; Trincomalee Town and Gravets division, Trincomalee district

First published: Saturday, 21 November 2015, 15:52