Know the Etymology: 454
Place Name of the Day: Sunday, 21 February 2016

Wadulla, Lath-pandura

வது₃ல்ல, லத்-பந்து₃ர
Vadulla, Lat-pandura

Wadulla
Lath+pandura

The place covered by creepers and foliage

The acquired or cleared thicket

Wadula	place overgrown with creepers, natural arbour, bower, a shady place formed mainly by trees or climbing plants; place closed in with foliage (Sinhala); Wadul: “Gaswæl gaala” (Sinhala, Sorata); Wadala: = Wadula: a place covered or screened by the foliage of trees, creepers etc. “Ko'la aadiya gahata va muvaha voo tæna” (Sinhala, Sorata); 1. Puthal: bush, low jungle, grass (Tamil, DED 4509); Pandura > Padura > Wadura > Wadula; see box on Pandura; 2. Vayalai, Paca'lai, Basale: various creeper names (DED 3824); 3. Vagnjula: name of various trees and plants including rattan cane creeper (Sanskrit, CDIAL 11210); Vagnchi: rattan cane creeper (Tamil, DED 5216); general term for creepers, a flowering creeper, a girl compared to a creeper (Tamil literary usages); equated to Puthal: bush, low jungle (Tamil, Pingkalam, 10: 985)
Pandura	bush, shrub in general, thicket (Sinhala); Panduru: plant in general, a place where plants, shrubs etc. grow densely, a cage, “Gasa, Ekata wædunu gas-ræssa, Pagncharaya (Sinhala, Sorata); 1. Puthar: grass, bush, low jungle (Tamil, DED 4509); Ponta: thicket overgrown with grass (Malayalam, DED 4509); Podaru: bush, thicket, shrub (Telugu, DED 4509); from the root Puthai: (verb) to cover, conceal; (noun) concealment, place of concealment, thick part of a jungle (Tamil, DED 4509); note the cage meaning cited by Sorata; 2. Padar: (verb) to grow or spread as creepers (Tamil, DED 3844); Padaar: low bush, low thicket of creepers (Tamil, DED 3844); 3. Panthar: arbour, shed (Tamil, DED 3922); Pantal: temporary shed of leaves or wickerwork (Malayalam, DED 3922); Pandar, Pandara, Pandal: temporary shed of leaves, trellis for vines or creepers (Kannada, DED 3922); Pandiri, Pandili: shed made of leaves or wickerwork, trellis for vines or creepers to run or spread over (Telugu, DED 3922). Pagnjara in Sanskrit is not an early usage (CDIAL 7685)
Lath	1. = Lad: acquired (Sinhala, Sorata); Labdha: taken, seized (Sanskrit, CDIAL 10946); 2. tamed, “Damatot” (Sinhala, Sorata); 3. cut, “Kapatot” (Sinhala, Sorata); Luta: cut off (Pali, CDIAL 11092); Loota: cut off (Sanskrit, CDIAL 11092)

Wadula in Sinhala means a natural arbour, place overgrown with creepers or a shady place formed by foliage, creepers etc. Wadala is a variation of Wadula (Sorata).

A Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages compares the word with Vagnjula in Sanskrit, meaning a variety of plants including the rattan cane creeper (Vagnjula > Vandula > Vadula).

A cognate Vagnchi, generally meaning creepers and also meaning rattan cane in Tamil, is listed as Dravidian (DED 5216). Vagnchi also means Puthal (bush or low jungle) in Tamil, according to Pingkalam lexicon.

Comparable to Wadala in Sinhala, there is also another word Vayalai in Tamil/ Dravidian, meaning certain kinds of creepers and creeping plants (DED 3824).

However, looking at the shades of meaning in which Wadula is used in Sinhala, it seems the etymology is related to another Sinhala word Pandura, meaning dense growth of bush, shrub etc as a thicket, or a place densely covered or caged by such growth (Pandura > Padura > Vadura > Vadula).

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CDIAL relates Pandura to Pagnjara in Sanskrit meaning a cage (Pagnjara > Pandara > Pandura). The word Pagnjara is of late usage in Sanskrit (CDIAL 7685).

In word form, the more appropriate cognates of Pandura seems to be Panthar in Tamil and Pandara in Kannada, meaning an arbour and also meaning a cage or cage frame (DED 3922).

In considering the shades of meaning of Pandura in Sinhala, the more appropriate cognates are Puthar in Tamil, Ponta in Malayalam and Podaru in Telugu, meaning a bush or thicket (DED 4509).

The Puthar/ Ponta/ Podaru cognates in Dravidian are traced to the verb root Puthai or Poththu, meaning to cover (DED 4509).

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The prefix Lat, as in Lat-pandura, may mean 'acquired', if the term is equated to Lad (Sorata), and may mean, cut or cleared (tamed), if the meaning is Kapatot or Damatot, as given by Sorata. In the former meaning, Lat/ Lad is a cognate of Labda in Sanskrit (CDIAL 10946), and in the latter meanings Lat is a cognate of Luta in Pali and Loota in Sanskrit (CDIAL 11092).

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Wadulla is a place in Kolonnawa division of Colombo district.

Lath-pandura is in Palindunuwara division of Kalutara district

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Some related place names:

Wadu-ræssa: The creeper-thicket; Ambanpola division, Kurunegala district; Nikaweratiya division, Kurunegala district; Kobeigane division, Kurunegala district

First published: Monday, 22 February 2016, 02:21