Know the Etymology: 483
Place Name of the Day: Thursday, 28 July 2016

Mahiyaňgaṇaya, Aṅkaṇāk-kaṭavai

மஹியங்க₃ணய, அங்கணாக்கடவை
Mahiyaňgaṇaya, Aṅkaṇāk-kaṭavai

Maha+aňgaṇaya
Aṅkaṇa+kaṭavai
Aṅkaṇāḷ+kaṭavai

The big open plain or the great yard

The pass over a gutter; or the pass at the muddy area; or the Kaṇṇaki temple pass

Aňgaṇa	Ańgaṇa, also, Aṅgaṇa, Aṅgana: yard, plain, flat land, open place; “Midula, Tẹnitalāva, Eli mahan tẹna” (Sinhala, Sorata); space in front of a house, court, yard (Sinhala, Clough); Aṅgana: courtyard (Sanskrit, CDIAL 118); Aṅgaṇa: open space before palace (Pali, CDIAL 118); Aṅkaṇam: space between two pillars (Tamil, Kannada, Tulu, Telugu, DED 28); spacious yard (Tamil); Aṅkaṇ: (adverb) broad space, as in Aṅkaṇ-vicumpu, meaning broad sky (Tamil); Akaṉ: wide (Tamil, from Akal, DED 8); Agala: space, width (Kannada, DED 8)
Mahi	from Maha, Mahā: big, great (CDIAL 9936); Mahas: glory, splendour, light (Sanskrit, CDIAL 9936); Mā: great (Tamil, DED 4786)
Aṅkaṇam	1. Gutter (Tamil, Tirukkuṟaḷ 72: 10; Nālaṭiyār 18: 5); mouth of gutter or a passage of water (Tamil, Piṅkalam 4: 228); probably related to Ampaṇam: gutter, passage of water, trough, cubic measure (Tamil, Caṅkam diction, DED 263); 2. Muddy place, filthy place (Tamil, Tivākaram 5: 78); Aṅgaṇa: filth, “Kiluṭa” (Sinhala, Sorata); probably related to gutter, trough-like place; 3. Spacious yard (Tamil, literary); space between two pillars (Tamil, Kannada, Tulu, Telugu, DED 28);
Aṅkaṇā	from Aṅkaṇāḷ: goddess Kaṇṇaki; Am+kaṇ+āḷ: one who has beautiful eyes (Tamil, DED 328 + DED 1159); Aṅkaṇāk-kaṭavai is noted as Aṅkaṇ-ammaik-kaṭavai (Eezham Tamil literature, Uṭukkuc-cintu, Kanthaiya, V.C., p. 155)
Kaṭavai	way, passing over (Tamil, DED 1109); Kaṭa: (verb) to pass through, traverse, cross (Tamil, DED 1109)

The component Aňgaṇa in Sinhala, as in the place name Mahiyaňgaṇaya, means an open space, plain or flat land. The term also means a courtyard. But the former meanings are more appropriate to the geographical context.

Cognates could be found both in Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. While Aṅgana/ Aṅgaṇa means a yard in Sanskrit and Pali (CDIAL 118), Aṅkaṇ as adverb in Tamil means any wide space, and Aṅkaṇam listed as Dravidian (DED 28), means a space between two pillars in Tamil, Kannada, Tulu and Telugu. A possible etymology is nasalisation of Akaṉ in Tamil (Agala in Kannada), meaning wide space (DED 8).

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The prefix Aṅkaṇa or Aṅkaṇā as in the Tamil place name Aṅkaṇāk-kaṭavai, may mean a gutter, as the way at this place passes over a flood outlet. In this case Aṅkaṇam meaning a gutter in Tamil corresponds to Ampaṇam meaning the same in old Tamil.

Another probability is the place name coming from the deity Aṅkaṇ-ammai (Kaṇṇaki) for which there is a temple at this place (see box for etymology). This temple and the name of the deity are found mentioned in an undated folk literature, Maṭṭakkaḷappu-uṭukkuc-cintu (Kanthaiya, V.C., p. 155). However possibilities of conflation cannot be ruled out.

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Mahiyaňgaṇaya, noted in Pali literature and associated with a mythical visit of Buddha to the island, is a divisional headquarters today in Badulla district. It is a plain land.

Aṅkaṇāk-kaṭavai is a locality in Alaveddi in Valikamam North division of Jaffna district, where a flood outlet flows into paddy fields and where a Kannaki temple is located.

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Some related place names:

Rājāňganaya: The royal plain or the plain belonging to government; Rajanganaya division, Anuradhapura district

Attanganaya: Arachchikkattuwa division, Puttalam district

First published: Friday, 29 July 2016, 17:38