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Eelam (Tamil:ஈழம்,īḻam,Tamil:[iːɻɐm], also spelledEezham,Ilam orIzham in English) is the nativeTamil name for theSouth Asian island now known asSri Lanka. Eelam is also the Tamil name for thespurge (a plant),toddy (an intoxicant) andgold.[1]
The exact etymology and the original meaning of the word are not clearly known, and there are number of conflicting theories. Theretroflex approximantḻ inīḻam is a characteristicphoneme for [sangam Tamil language] that is now retained only in the closely related languagesTamil andMalayalam. Conventionally, it has been represented in theLatin script by the digraphzh.[2]
The earliest use of the word is found in aTamil-Brahmi inscription as well as in theSangam literature. TheTirupparankunram inscription found nearMadurai inTamil Nadu and dated on palaeographical grounds to the 1st century BCE, refers to a person as a householder from Eelam (Eela-kudumpikan).[3] The inscription reads,
: erukatur eelakutumpikan polalaiyan "Polalaiyan, (resident of) Erukatur, the husbandman (householder) from Eelam."[2]
The Sangam literaturePaṭṭiṉappālai, mentionsEelattu-unavu (food from Eelam). One of the prominent Sangam Tamil poets is known asEelattu Poothanthevanar meaning Poothan-thevan (proper name) hailing fromEelam. (Akanaṉūṟu: 88, 231, 307;Kuṟuntokai: 189, 360, 343;Naṟṟiṇai: 88, 366).[4] The Tamil inscriptions from thePallava andChola period dating from 9th century CE link the word with toddy, toddy tapper's quarters (Eelat-cheri), tax on toddy tapping (Eelap-poodchi), a class of toddy tappers (Eelath-chanran).Eelavar is a caste of toddy tappers found in the southern parts ofKerala.[3]Eela-kaasu andEela-karung-kaasu are refers to coinages found in theChola inscriptions ofParantaka I.[5]
Since the 1980s the wordsEelam andEelavar have been taken up by theTamil separatist movements spearheaded by theTamil Tigers. Eelavar now refers to the citizens of the proposed Tamil Eelam, which would have taken up the northern and eastern parts ofSri Lanka.[2]
Late-19th-century linguists took the view that the nameEelam was derived from thePali (AnIndo-Aryan language) formSihala for Sri Lanka.Robert Caldwell, followingHermann Gundert, cites the word as an example of the omission of initial sibilants in the adoption of Indo-Aryan words into Dravidian languages.[6][7] Sri Lankan historianKarthigesu Indrapala in his thesis released in 1965 suggested that the people from whose named Eelam is derived wereSinhalese.[8] The earliest occurrence of the name Eelam is in the Brahmi inscriptions of South India in which it occurs as Ila (Eela), thePrakrit form of the Eelam.[8] He derived Eelam from Sinhala as follows;
Sinhaḷa>Sîhaḷa (inPali) / Sihiḷa (inPrakrit)>Sîḷa>Iḷa>Iḻam (Eelam).[8]
Thomas Burrow, in contrast, argued that the word was likely to have been Dravidian in origin, on the basis that Tamil and Malayalam hardly ever substitute 'ɻ', a peculiarly Dravidian sound, for the Sanskrit -'l'-. He suggested that the name "Eelam" came from the Dravidian word "Eelam" (or Cilam) meaning "toddy", referring to the palm trees in Sri Lanka, what was later absorbed into Indo-Aryan languages. He thought that was also likely to have been the source for the Pali '"Sihala".[9] The Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, which was jointly edited by Thomas Burrow andMurray Emeneau, marks the Indo-Aryan etymology with a question mark.[10]
Karthigesu Indrapala updated his theory in 2005 and claims thatEela, the stem ofEelam, is attested in Sri Lanka for centuries before thecommon era as a name of an ethnic group and that it eventually came to be applied to the island asEelam. He also believes that the name of the island was applied to the popularcoconut tree or vice versa in Tamil. He believes the early native names for the presentSinhalese ethnic group, such asHela, are derivations ofEela, which wasPrakritized asSihala and eventuallySanskritized asSimhala in the 5th century CE.[11]
Iḷa (Eela)>Sihaḷa>Simhaḷa.[11]
Peter Schalk, a professor of theology fromUniversity of Uppsala, concludes that it is a proper Dravidian word used exclusively for toddy beginning from thecommon era up until the medieval period.[2]
Another theory based on archeological evidence suggests the word is a Tamil word which originated from South India.[12] Also the Tamil meaning of "Eelam" is postulated to be homeland.[13][14]
The Tamil lexicons Thivaakaram, Pingkalam and Choodaama'ni, dating from c. 8th century CE, equate the word Eezham with Chingka'lam (the Sinhala country).
Eela andEelavar are etymologically related toEelam. The stemEela is found in Prakrit inscriptions dated to 2nd century BCE in Sri Lanka in terms such asEela-Barata andEela-Naga, proper names. The meaning ofEela in these inscriptions is unknown although one could deduce that they are either fromEela, a geographic location, or were an ethnic group known asEela.[11][15]
Eelavar in South Indian medieval inscriptions refer to thecaste or function oftoddy-drawers, drawn from the Dravidian word for palm tree toddy,Eelam.[2] From the 19th century onwards, sources appeared inSouth India regarding a legendary origin for caste of toddy drawers known asEelavar in the state ofKerala. These theories stated thatEelavar were originally from Eelam. The consciousness of the South Indian Eelavar caste being of Sri Lankan origin is not older than 150–200 years.[2]
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