Re: Substrate language which contributed sarSapa to

> kacavam (Tamil) `mustard'.  *$Sa. , ~ , Mu., Ho , H. , O. , Sk. .  %8642.  #8562. `mustard'. 
> *$Sa. , ~ , Mu., Ho , H. , O. , Sk. .  %8643.  #8563. (Munda etyma)

It looks to me that kacavam is derived from the reconstructed
Proto Dravidian word for Mustard - ‘*kAzhccapa’. It is derived
from a form where  ‘k’ is not palatized and  c > s > y transition
has not taken place. As I have stated before according to
Krishnamurti (2003, p154) Intervocalic -w- is derived from
root-final *-p followed by formative suffixes in most cases.
According to Krishnamurti (2003, p144) –p- is equivalent to –w- .

Therefore ‘**kArccapa’ > ‘kArccava’.

 

Now a change of Proto Dravidian –PP- to post Proto Dravidian 

–P- (Krishnamurti, 2003, p177) occurred in many instances.

There are many instances where ‘r’ is lost leading the germination

of the following consonant . Hence we get

 

‘kArccava’ > ‘kArcava’ > kArccava > kAcava.

The form kacavam is obtained by vowel shortening.

 

It shows that word forms at different stages of transition are

preserved in Tamil. This is because Tamil became a literary

language quite early, and transitions continued after that.

 

-Jyothi

 

[Rearranged. -BMS]