oryza
From: Daniel Koechlin
Message: 43633
Date: 2006-03-02
Is "oryza" derived from "aric" or "vrihi" ?
Frankly, I am not an expert in Dravidian languages. I have at my
disposal an old French/Telugu and French/Malayam dictionary. It says
that in their system of transliteration "c" corresponds to [s] or [sh]
or [tsh]. This is the standard way of pronouncing "c" in Indian
languages' transliteration using the roman alphabet.
I supposed therefore that "aric" is pronounced "arish"/"aritsh" or
something similar (not a hard ending) which would lead to warizi/oryza
more easily than vrihi.
I assumed that the word was therefore borrowed directly into Iranian
from a dravidian source. Remember, Brahoui (a Dravidian language) is
spoken in Pakistan.
I confess my ignorance. If a native speaker of a Dravidian language with
an interest in Tamil could step forward, it would hep me put my notions
straight. I don"t really know what the reflexes of Sanskrit are in
Iranian.
I am also an avid fan of Piotr's "logia". Honestly, his comments are way
above the other contributions (including my own).