LINGUIST List 13.411

Thu Feb 14 2002

Sum: Tamil Body Part Lexemes

Editor for this issue: Marie Klopfenstein <marielinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Wiltrud Mihatsch, Tamil body part lexemes

We would like to thank all the Tamil specialists who helped us find some
Tamil body part lexemes (and are still helping!):

Nitya Sethuraman
Baskaran Sankaran
Mr. S Ramesh Kumar
Mr. S Thiyagarajan
Mr. P. Ilangovan
Sankaran Radhakrishnan

Louis Janus sent us a listing of volunteers/ experts edited by the LCTL
project for a number of languages that might interest many other
linguists too:
http://carla.acad.umn.edu/LCTL/experts.html

If you would like to know what our project is about, see
http://www.sfb441.uni-tuebingen.de/b6/index-engl.html

Again, thank you very much!

Reinhild Steinberg & Wiltrud Mihatsch

Here are the lists:

Nitya Sethuraman:

 1. forehead -- netti
 2. eye -- kaN
 3. eyebrow -- kaN puruvam
 4. eyelid -- kaN emai
 5. eyelash -- kaN rappai
 6. eyeball -- kaN muzhi
 7. eye pupil -- kaN paappaa (colloquial)
 8. head -- talai
 9. skull -- kapaalam, also maNDai Odu
 10. face -- muunji
 11. hair (head, body) -- mayir
 12. mouth -- vaai
 13. lip -- utadu
 14. beard -- taaDi
 15. moustache -- miishai
 16. chin -- muvaa kaTTai
 17. jaw -- mEl taaDai
 18. lower jaw -- kiiR taaDai
 19. nose -- muukku
 20. nostril -- muukku dvaaram
 21. ear -- kaadu
 22. earlobe --
 23. temple --
 24. cheek -- kannam
 25. cheek-bone -- kanna elumbu

************
Baskaran Sankaran, Mr. S Ramesh Kumar and Mr. S Thiyagarajan

1. forehead - neRRi
2. eye - kaN
3. eyebrow - puruvam
4. eyelid - kaNNimai, imai
5. eyelash - kaNNimaiyin mayirvarisai (This is a sort of expanding the
word which roughly translates to 'row of hairs in eyelids')
6. eyeball - muzhi
7. eye pupil - kaNmaNi, pAppa
8. head - thalai, maNtai
9. skull - kapAlam, maNtai Otu
10.face - mukam, mUnji (used to express anger)
11(a). hair (head) - muti, mayir, thalai muti, puruvam, thaati, mIsai
11(b). hair (body) - rOmam, urOmam, nenju muti
12. mouth - vaai
13. lip - uthatu, ithazh (used for females)
14. beard - thaati
15. moustache - mIsai
16. chin - mukavAyk kattai
17. jaw - thAtai
18. lower jaw - kIzhth thAtai (kIzh represents lower and the 'th' is
added
as a suffix to 'kIzh' due to Tamil morphology, because next word
'thAtai'
begins with 'th'.)
19. nose - mUkku
20. nostril - mUccu thuvAram
21. ear - kAthu
22. earlobe - kAAthu matal, matal
23. temple - neRRIp pottu, pottu
24. cheek - kannam
25. chek-bone - kanna elumpu

****

Mr P. Ilangovan:

 forehead -- netri <formal>/netthi <inf>
eye -- kan [k^n] - to be pronounced like 'pun/bun'
eyebrow -- puruvum
eyelid -- (kan) rappai - to be pron like 'ruppai'
eyelash -- (kan emai) - to be pron like 'imai'
eyeball -- ?
eye pupil -- (kan) pappa - the vowel is to be pron like the 'a' in
father
head -- thalai
skull -- kabalam <form>/ mandaiyodu <info>
face -- mugam <for>/muham <info>
hair -- [head] -> thalaimudi; [body] -> romam <for> - to be pron like
'romum'
mouth -- vai - the first vowel is long (the vowel comination is not a
diphthong)
lip -- udhadu
beard -- dhadi - to be pron like 'thaadi'
moustache -- meesai
chin -- mugavai <for>/muhavai <formal variant>; mogara(i) <inform>
jaw -- mugavaikattai/muhavaikattai; mogarakattai <infor> [an abusive
word]
lower jaw -- ?
nose -- mooku
nostril -- nasi <form> - to be pron like this 'naasi'
ear -- kadhu
earlobe -- kadhumadal
temple -- nettripottu <form>; netthipottu <infor>
cheek -- kannam
cheek-bone -- ?

********

Sankaran Radhakrishnan
1. forehead nerri (neRRi)
2. eye kan (kaN)
3. eyebrow puruvam (puruvam)
4. eyelid imai (imai)
5. eyelash kan imai mayir (kaN imai mayir)
6. eyeball vili (vizhi)
7. eye pupil mani (maNi)/pappa (paappaa)
8. head thalai (talai)
9. skull mantai otu (maNTai ooDu)/ kapalam (kabaalam)
10. face muham (mukam)
11. hair (head) muti (muTi)
 hair (body) mayir (mayir)
12. mouth vay (vaay)
13. lip uthadu (utaDu)
14. beard thadi (taaDi)
15. moustache misai (miisai)
16. chin mukavay kattai (mukavaay kaTTai)
17. jaw thadai (taaDai)
18. lower jaw kil thadai (kiizh taaDai)
19. nose mukku (muukku)
20. nostril nasi thuvaram (naacic- tuvaaram)/mukku thuvaram
(muukkut-tuvaaram)
21. ear katu (kaadu)
22. earlobe nuni kathu (nunik-kaadu)
23. temple pori (poRi)/pottu (poTTu)
24. cheek kannam (kaNNam)
25. cheek-bone kanna elumbu (kaNNa elumpu)