Know the Etymology: 485
Place Name of the Day: Monday, 01 August 2016

Akurala, Akuraṇa, Ẹkiriya, Hakuru-talē

அ[க்]குரல,
அ[க்]குரண,
எ[æக்]கிரிய,
ஹ[க்]குரு-தலே
Akurala, Akuraṇa, Ẹkiriya, Hakuru-talē

Akura+la
Akura+aṇa
Ẹkiriya
Hakuru+talē

The gravel or pebble ground

The gravel or pebble plain/ bank

Akura	(singular), Akuru: (plural), little stone (Sinhala, Clough); Akuru, Hakuru, Hakkara: little stone “Galkẹṭaya” (Sinhala, Sorata); 1. Kakkara: stone, pebble (Prakrit, CDIAL 2820); 2. Śarkarā: gravel, grit (Sanskrit, Atharva Vedic, CDIAL 12337); pebble (Sanskrit, CDIAL 12337); Sakkharā: gravel, grit (Pali, CDIAL 12337); 3. Karaṭu: roughness (Tamil, DD 1265); Karṅkallu: gravel (Tulu, DED 1260); Garasu, Garusu: gravel (Kannada, DED 1260); Caraḷai: gravel (Tamil, DED 2354); 4. Akki, Ari: grain (Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu, DED 215); 5. Ekkar, Ekkal: sandy place, sand heaped up as by the waves, sandhill, fine sand (Tamil, Caṅkam diction, DED 770, cognates in Malayalam and Telugu); related to the verb Ekku: to be heaped up as sand on shore (Tamil, DED 770); see box on Ẹkiri
Ẹkiri	related to Hẹkiri: gravelly or pebbly ground, “Kuḍāgalkẹṭa ẹti bima” (Sinhala, Sorata); Hẹkira: sandbank or sandy soil (Sinhala, Clough); Akiri: gravel, coral aggregate (Dhivehi/ Maldivian); see box on Akura above.
Hakuru	also Akuru, Hakkara: little stone, “Galkẹṭaya” (Sinhala, Sorata). See boxes on Akura and Ẹkiri
Talē	from Tala: plain, surface, layer, place, ground (Sinhala, Clough); bank, high ground, “Goḍabima, Piṭa, Matta, Muduna” (Sinhala, Sorata). See earlier columns for etymology

Akura (plural: Akuru) in Sinhala means little stone and in the context of place names it stands for gravel or pebble. Both the forms Akura and Hakuru could be found in Sinhala place names.

The terms correspond to Kakkara in Parakrit, Śarkarā in Sanskrit and Sakkharā in Pali, all meaning stone, pebble, gravel or grit.

Etymology may be related to roughness/ hardness or to grain-like shape. The Dravidian parallels related to the former shade of meaning are Karaṭu, Garasu, Garusu, Caraḷai etc., (DED 1265, 1260, 2354), and related to the latter shade are Akki and Ari (DED 215).

Also note the Tamil/ Dravidian term Ekkar, meaning sand heaped up by the action of water on shores and banks (DED 770), which comes from the verb Ekku.

The term Ẹkiri, noticed in Sinhala place names, has no dictionary entry, but it could be taken either as the original H un-added, or H-lost form of Hẹkiri, meaning a gravelly or pebbly ground (Sorata, see box). For Hẹkira in Sinhala, Clough gives the meaning sandbank or sandy soil.

A close cognate is the Dhivehi/ Maldivian word Akiri, meaning gravel or coral aggregate that is found on shores and is used as valuable construction material. The term could also be found in Maldivian island names as in the example, Akiri-fushi (Male Atoll).

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Akurala is a place in Hikkaduwa division of Galle district.

Akuraṇa is the headquarters of a division by its name in Kandy district. There is another place by the same name in Panduwasnuwara West division of Kurunegala district

Ẹkiriya is noticed as a place name in Hanguranketha division of Nuwara Eliya district and in Lunugala division of Badulla district.

Hakuru-talē is in Hanguranketha division of Nuwara Eliya district

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Some related place names:

Akura:

Akurana: The gravelly or pebbly ground; Kiriella division, Ratnapura district. Akura+ana

Akuram-boḍa: The gravel bed or gravel bank; Pallepola division, Matale district

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Hakuru:

Hakuru-kuṁbura: The gravelly paddy field; Mirigama division, Gampaha district

Hakuru-wela: The gravelly paddy field; Angunakolapelessa division, Hambantota district

Hakuru-gammana: The gravelly outskirts of the village; Aranayake division, Kegalle district

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Ẹkiri:

Ẹkiri-kanda: The gravel hill or heap; Medawachchiya division, Anuradhapura district

Ẹkiriyan-kuṁbura: The gravelly or pebbly paddy field; Rideemaliyadda division, Badulla district

Ẹkiriya-gala: The gravelly or pebbly hill; Kegalle division, Kegalle district

First published: Monday, 01 August 2016, 21:23