Know the Etymology: 432
Place Name of the Day: Monday, 30 November 2015

Kadi-gamuwa

கடி₃க₃முவ
Kaḍigamuva

Kadi+gamuwa

The forest village

Kadi1	forest, “Vanaya” (Sinhala, Sorata); Kadi-dora: = Kada-dora: outer entrance to a forest, “Vanayata pitisena dwaraya” (Sinhala, Sorata); Kada, Kadu: forest (Sinhala, Sorata); Kaadu: a salt land on which jungle only grows sparsely or in park fashion (Sinhala, Codrington); Kaadu: forest, jungle, desert, paddy field as in Vayal-kaadu (Tamil, DED 1438); Kadam, Kada'ru: forest, hard or difficult path (Tamil, DED 1438); Kaadu: forest (Kannada, Tulu, Telugu, DED 1438); Kadu: forest patch cleared for cultivation, field or garden in the jungle (Irula, Paalu Kuruba, DED 1438); Kadi: jungle (Kodagu, DED 1438)
Kadi2	a small sentient creature, “Enam kudaa sattu” (Sinhala, Sorata); Kadi-sini: = Kadiyaa (Sinhala, Sorata); black ant (Sinhala Clough); Kadi: (verb) to bite; (noun) a bite, itch (Tamil, Malayalam, DED 1124); Kadi: to bite, sting, itch (Kannada, DED 1124); Kadiyan: one that bites, as in Kadiyan-naay: a dog that bites (Tamil usage); Kadi-e'rumpu: the stinging kinds of ants (Tamil, DED 1124 + 864); Kadde'rumpu: black ant (Tamil); Kadu: (verb) to throb and pain as from sting, venomous bite, prick etc.(Tamil, DED 1135)
Gamu	village (Sinhala); Graama: troop, village (Sanskrit, CDIAL 4368); Gaama: village (Pali, CDIAL 4368); collection, village (Prakrit, CDIAL 4368)

Kadi is a variation of Kada and Kadu, in meaning a forest in Sinhala (Sorata Thera's Sinhala dictionary). All of them correspond to Kaadu, Kadam and Kada'ru in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 1438), meaning a forest. The closest parallel is Kadi meaning a jungle in Kodagu (DED 1438).

Kadi in Sinhala also means a small sentient creature (Sorata), and Kadiyaa means black ant. The etymology of the word in this shade of meaning is related to Kadi meaning bite in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 1124) and the derivatives Kadiyan, Kadi-e'rumpu, Kadde'rumpu etc. (see box). There are some Sinhala place names probably related to Kadiyaa meaning black ant (see related place names).

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Kadi-gamuwa as a village name could be found in Okewela division, Hambantota district; Bingiriya division, Kurunegala district; Rambukkana division, Kagalle district and Ruwanwella division, Kegalle district

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Some related place names:

Kadi:

Kadi-gaawa: The forest neighbourhood; Rasnayakapura division, Kurunegala district; Thalawa division, Anuradhapura district

Kadi-haaraya: Bamunukotuwa division, Kurunegala district. Also note Haara-gama in Pathahewaheta division, Kandy district

Kadiyaa:

Kadiyan-lena: The forest cave or the cave of black ants; Pasbage Korale, Kandy district

Kadiyang-galla: The rocky hill of the forest or the rocky hill of black ants; Ipalogama division, Anuradhapura district

First published: Monday, 30 November 2015, 21:25