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{{Short description|Reconstructed common ancestor of the Dravidian languages}}

factoids

{{Dravidian}}Proto-Dravidian is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Dravidian languages native to the Indian subcontinent.{{sfn|Andronov|2003|p=299}} It is thought to have differentiated into Proto-North Dravidian, Proto-Central Dravidian, and Proto-South Dravidian, although the date of diversification is still debated.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=492}}

History

As a proto-language, Proto-Dravidian is not itself attested in historical records. Its modern conception is based solely on reconstruction. It is suggested that the language was spoken in the 4th millennium BCE, and started evolving into various branches around 3rd-millennium BCE.BOOK, History and Archaeology. vol. 1, no. 1–2, 1980,weblink 234, Department of Ancient History, Culture, and Archaeology, University of Allahabad, 11579254, {{full citation needed|date=September 2022}}The origin and territory of the Proto-Dravidian speakers is uncertain, but some suggestions have been made based on the reconstructed Proto-Dravidian vocabulary. The reconstruction has been done on the basis of cognate words present in the different branches (Northern, Central and Southern) of the Dravidian language family.{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=353}}According to {{harvp|Fuller|2007}}, the botanical vocabulary of Proto-Dravidian is characteristic of the dry deciduous forests of central and peninsular India. For the Southern Dravidians, this region extends from Saurashtra and Central India to South India. It thus represents the general area in which the Dravidians were living before the separation of branches.{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=353}} According to Franklin Southworth (2005),{{sfn|Southworth|2005}} the Proto-Dravidian vocabulary is characteristic of a rural economy based on agriculture, animal husbandry and hunting. However, there are some indications of a society more complex than a rural one:{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=353-354}}

• Words for an upper storey and beam
• Metallurgy
• Trade
• Payment of dues (possibly taxes or contributions to religious ceremonies)
• Social stratification

This evidence is not sufficient to determine with certainty the territory of the Proto-Dravidians. These characteristics can be accommodated within multiple contemporary cultures, including:{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=353-354}}

• 2nd and 3rd millennium BCE Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures of Elam and Mehrgarh and present-day western Rajasthan, Deccan and other parts of the peninsula.
• Early Indus Valley civilisation sites in Pakistan and later ones in the Saurashtra (Sorath) area of present-day Gujarat.
• Asko Parpola identifies Proto-North Dravidians with the Indus Valley civilization (IVC) and the Meluhha people mentioned in Sumerian records, and has suggested that the word "Meluhha" derives from the Dravidian words mel(u)-akam ("highland country, high abode").{{sfn|Parpola|Parpola|1975|p=217-225}}
• Loan words identified in Sumerian such as the words for ivory and sesame are considered to be derived from Proto-Dravidian and spread from IVC to Mesopotamia due to trade.{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=354}}{{sfn|Ansumali Mukhopadhyay|2021}}

Phonology

Vowels

Proto-Dravidian contrasted between five short and long vowels: *a, *ā, *i, *ī, *u, *ū, *e, *ē, *o, *ō. The sequences *ai and *au are treated as *ay and *av (or *aw).{{sfn|Baldi|1990|p=342}}

Consonants

Proto-Dravidian has been reconstructed as having the following consonant phonemes:{{sfn|Subrahmanyam|1983|p=40}}{{sfn|Zvelebil|1990}}{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003}}{| class="wikitable Unicode" border="1" style="text-align:center"! !!Labial!Dental!Alveolar!Retroflex!Palatal!Velar!Glottal!Nasalsreconstructed by P.S. Subrahmanyam}} *ṇ *ñ !Plosive|!Semivowel| *H!Rhoticmay also be represented as ḻ or r̤}} !Lateral|{{Notelist}}The singular alveolar plosive *ṯ developed into an alveolar trill {{IPA|/r/}} in many of the South and South Central languages, it later merged with the tap in many of them; Tulu has /d͡ʒ, d̪, ɾ/ as reflexes, Manda-Kui made it /d͡ʒ/ and Hill-Maria Gondi made it /ʁ/. *ṯṯ and *nṯ became /r̥, nr/ in Konda and [tr, ndr] in many Tamil dialects. Apart from them, other languages did not rhotacize it, instead either preserving them or merging it with other sets of stops like dentals in Kannada, retroflexes in Telugu or palatals in Manda-Kui and some languages of Kerala.weblink Central made all alveolars dental which is one of the features distinguishing it from South Central branch and North made it /r, s/.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003}weblink For example, Tamil āṟu, Tulu āji, Naiki sādi, Kui hāja; Tamil puṟṟu, Tulu puñca, Kannada huttu, Naiki puṭṭa, Konda puRi, Malto pute; Tamil onṟu, Tulu oñji, Pengo ronje, Brahui asi.Velar nasal *ṅ occurred only before *k in Proto-Dravidian (as in many of its daughter languages). Therefore, it is not considered a separate phoneme in Proto-Dravidian. However, it attained phonemic status in languages like Malayalam, Gondi, Konda and Pengo because the original sequence *ṅk was simplified to *ṅ or *ṅṅ.{{sfn|Subrahmanyam|1983}}The glottal fricative *H has been proposed by {{harvp|Krishnamurti|2003}} to account for the Old Tamil Aytam (Āytam) and other Dravidian comparative phonological phenomena.P.S. Subrahmanyam reconstructs 6 nasals for PD compared to 4 by Krishnamurti, who also does not reconstruct a laryngeal.WEB,weblink Professor P. S. Subrahmanyam, (1939-2016) the distinguished Dravidian linguist: A short profile and his publications, Prema, S., Sreekumar, P., The Northern Dravidian languages Kurukh, Malto and Brahui cannot easily be derived from the traditional Proto-Dravidian phonological system. {{harvp|McAlpin|2003}} proposes that they branched off from an earlier stage of Proto-Dravidian than the conventional reconstruction, which would apply only to the other languages. He suggests reconstructing a richer system of dorsal stop consonants:{| class="wikitable"! Early Proto-Dravidian !! Late Proto-Dravidian(Proto-Non-North Dravidian) !! Proto-Kurukh-Malto !! Brahui align="center"| align="center"| k align="center"| k align="center"| xk / _i(ː)

Numerals

Vocabulary

Crop plants

Below are some crop plants that have been found in the Southern Neolithic complex of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, along with their Proto-Dravidian or Proto-South Dravidian reconstructions by {{harvp|Southworth|2005}}. In some cases, the proto-form glosses differ from the species identified from archaeological sites. For example, the two Southern Neolithic staple grasses Brachiaria ramosa and Setaria verticillata respectively correspond to the reconstructed Proto-Dravidian forms for Sorghum vulgare and Setaria italica as early Dravidian speakers shifted to millet species that were later introduced to South India.{{sfn|Southworth|2005}}{| class="wikitable"|+Pulses! Common name !! Scientific name !! Reconstruction level !! Proto-form !! Gloss of proto-formhorsegram >Macrotyloma uniflorum >| horsegramgreen gram >Vigna radiata >| green gramblack gram >Vigna mungo>Vigna cf. mungo; Vigna trilobata Late Proto-Dravidian *uẓ-untu, *min(t) black gramhyacinth bean >Lablab purpureus >| Dolichos lablabpigeonpea >Cajanus cajan >| pigeonpea{| class="wikitable"|+Millets and related grasses! Common name !! Scientific name !! Reconstruction level !! Proto-form !! Gloss of proto-formbrowntop millet >Brachiaria ramosa >| sorghumSetaria verticillata>bristly foxtail Setaria verticillata Late Proto-Dravidian *kot-V Setaria italicasawa millet >Echinochloa colona>Echinochloa cf. colona Setaria pumila>yellow foxtail Setaria pumila little millet >Panicum sumatrense >| kodo millet >Paspalum scrobiculatum >| pearl milletmillet >Pennisetum glaucum >| bulrush milletfinger millet >Eleusine coracana >finger millet>ragi{| class="wikitable"|+Large cereals! Common name !! Scientific name !! Reconstruction level !! Proto-form !! Gloss of proto-formbarley >Hordeum vulgare >| wheat >Triticum >| wheatrice >Oryza sp. >| rice{| class="wikitable"|+Other food/crop plants! Common name !! Scientific name !! Reconstruction level !! Proto-form !! Gloss of proto-formjujube >Zizyphus sp. >| jujubeFicus>fig Ficus sp. Late Proto-Dravidian *cuv- figjava plum >Syzygium cumini >Syzygium cumini>jambuglobe cucumber >Cucumis prophetarum>Cucumis cf. prophetarum luffa >Luffa cylindrica >| flax >Linum usitatissimum >| cotton >Gossypium sp. >| okra >Abelmoschus sp. >| parenchyma fragments >| date palm >Phoenix sp. >|{| class="wikitable"|+Not identified archaeologically in the Southern Neolithic! Common name !! Scientific name !! Reconstruction level !! Proto-form !! Gloss of proto-formonion/garlic >Allium sp. >| eggplant >Solanum sp. >| sesame >Sesamum indicum >| sesamesugarcane >Saccharum sp. >| hemp >Cannabis sp. >|

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Proto-Dravidian selected from {{harvp|Krishnamurti|2003}}:{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p={{pn|date=August 2022}}}}{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 85%"! gloss !! Proto-Dravidian| *on-ṯu| *ōr-/*or-V-| *īr/*ir-V| *muH-/*mū-| *nāl/*nal-V-| *cay-m-| *caṯ-V| *eẓ-V| *eṇ| *toḷ-/*toṇ-| *on-patV| *paH-| *tal-ay| *kap-Vḷ| *kaṇ| *kuṭ-V/*kuṇṭ-V| *kew-i| *mū-nk(k)u/-nc-| *palAlso 'edge, beak, mouth of vessel, aperture, blade of sword'.}} *wāy| *kay| *kāl| *kuṇṭV| *taẓ-Vnk-/-nkk| *pāl| *el-V-mp/-nk| *mūḷ-V-| *piy/*pī| *il| *maẓc-a-| *māy-tt-/*mā-cc-| *peṇ| *pin-cc-Vr| *wān-am| *en-ṯ-| *pōẓ/*poẓ-u-tu| *nel-a-nc/-ncc| *nel-V-| *cukk-V| *miHn| *muy-il| *nīr| *yĀtu| *kuḷ-am/-Vnc-| *kaṭ-al| *kal| *waḷi| *nāḷ| *nāḷ/*naḷ-V-| *yAṇṭ-u| *mar-am/-an| *kāy| *kā(-n), kā-ṭu| *pul| *pīr| *naH-ay/-att/-kuẓi| *mā| *kur-V-c-| *pul-i| *el-i| *pāmpu| *iṯ-ay-cci| *ū/*uy| *ney| *mīn| *pēn| *nuẓ-Vḷ/-nk-| *ceṯ-ank-/-ankk-| *cir-| *weḷ/*weṇ| *kem| *in-| *puḷ-| *kac (> kay)| *uHṇ-/*ūṇ-| *tiHn-| *waH-/*waH-r| *naṭ-a| *ciy-/*cī-| *caH- ~ *ceH-| *kū-r-| *tuñc-| *eṇ{{Notelist}}

See also

{{sister project |project=wiktionary |text=Wiktionary has a list of reconstructed Proto-Dravidian forms at (Wiktionary:Appendix:Proto-Dravidian reconstructions|Appendix:Proto-Dravidian reconstructions)}}

• Elamo-Dravidian languages
• Dravidian languages
• Sanskrit

References

{{Reflist}}

Works cited

• BOOK, Andronov, Mikhail Sergeevich,weblink A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003, 978-3-447-04455-4,
• JOURNAL, Ansumali Mukhopadhyay, Bahata, December 2021, Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization: ultraconserved Dravidian tooth-word reveals deep linguistic ancestry and supports genetics, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8, 1, 193, 10.1057/s41599-021-00868-w, 236901972, free,
• BOOK, Baldi, Philip, Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology, Walter de Gruyter, 1990, 3-11-011908-0, 342, Philip Baldi,
• BOOK, Fuller, Dorian Q., The Evolution and History of Human Populations in South Asia, 2007, 978-1-4020-5561-4, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series, 393–443, Non-human genetics, agricultural origins and historical linguistics in South Asia, 10.1007/1-4020-5562-5_18,
• BOOK, Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju, The Dravidian Languages, 2003, Cambridge University Press, 978-1-139-43533-8, Bhadriraju Krishnamurti,
• JOURNAL, McAlpin, David W., 2003, Velars, Uvulars and the Northern Dravidian hypothesis, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 123, 3, 521–546, 10.2307/3217749, 3217749,
• BOOK, McIntosh, Jane, The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives, 2008, ABC-CLIO, 978-1-57607-907-2,
• JOURNAL, Parpola, Asko, Simo, Parpola, On the relationship of the Sumerian toponym Meluhha and Sanskrit mleccha, Studia Orientalia, 46, 1975, 205–238,weblink
• CONFERENCE, Southworth, Franklin C., 2005, Proto-Dravidian Agriculture,weblink 7th ESCA Round Table Conference, Kyoto, June 2005, Franklin Southworth,
• BOOK, Subrahmanyam, P.S., Dravidian Comparative Phonology, Annamalai University, 1983,
• BOOK, Zvelebil, Kamil, Dravidian Linguistics: An Introduction, Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture, 1990, Kamil Zvelebil,

Further reading

• JOURNAL, Andronov, M., 1964, Lexicostatistic analysis of the chronology of disintegration of proto-Dravidian, Indo-Iranian Journal, 7, 2, 170–186, 10.1163/000000064791616433, 161229771,
• JOURNAL, Blažek, Václav, 2009, Dravidian numeral,weblink Journal of Language Relationship, 1, 69–80, Václav Blažek,
• JOURNAL, Chandrasekaran, Periannan, 7 January 2016, Pleonastic Compounding: An Ancient Dravidian Word Structure, Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, 18, 1, 1–59 Seiten, 10.11588/ejvs.2011.1.319,
• JOURNAL, Emeneau, M. B., April 1988, Proto-Dravidian c- and Its Developments, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 108, 2, 239–268, 10.2307/603651, 603651,
• JOURNAL, Kobayashi, Masato, 2021, Viewing Proto-Dravidian from the Northeast, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 140, 2, 467–482, 10.7817/jameroriesoci.140.2.0467, 226670756, free, .
• JOURNAL, Kolipakam, Vishnupriya, Jordan, Fiona M., Dunn, Michael, Greenhill, Simon J., Bouckaert, Remco, Gray, Russell D., Verkerk, Annemarie, March 2018, A Bayesian phylogenetic study of the Dravidian language family, Royal Society Open Science, 5, 3, 171504, 2018RSOS....571504K, 10.1098/rsos.171504, 5882685, 29657761, 4844024,
• JOURNAL, Sankaran, C. R., 1939, Reconstruction of the Proto-Dravidian Pronouns, Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, 1, 1, 96–105, 42929233,
• JOURNAL, Smirnitskaya, Anna, Nominations for siblings: Proto-Dravidian reconstruction and borrowability, Journal of Language Relationship, 21, 3-4, 2024, 201-223, 10.31826/jlr-2024-213-406,
• JOURNAL, Southworth, Franklin, December 2011, Rice in Dravidian, Rice, 4, 3–4, 142–148, 10.1007/s12284-011-9076-9, 12983737, Franklin Southworth, free, 2011Rice....4..142S,
• BOOK, Subramoniam, V. I., Pratidanam: Indian, Iranian, and Indo-European studies presented to Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper on his sixtieth birthday, 1968, 9783112415306, 344–358, A Problem in the Reconstruction of the Proto Dravidian Nasal Phonemes, 10.1515/9783112415306-047,
• JOURNAL, Subrahmanyam, P.S., 2006, Proto-Dravidian Short, High, and Mid Vowels: Mergers in South Dravidian and Telugu-Kuwi, Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, 66/67, 291–303, 42931454,
• BOOK, Wells, Bryan K., The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Indus Writing, Fuls, Andreas, 2015, Archaeopress, 978-1-78491-046-4, 77–99, Proto-Dravidian and the Indus Script, j.ctvr43jmf.14,

External links

• BOOK, T. Burrow,weblink Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1984, 978-0-19-864326-5, Oxford, 2008-10-26,

{{Dravidian languages}}{{Tamil language}}