Where does the word Dravidian come from?

While the English word Dravidian was first employed by Robert Caldwell in his book of comparative Dravidian grammar based on the usage of the Sanskrit word drāviḍa in the work Tantravārttika by Kumārila Bhaṭṭa, the word drāviḍa in Sanskrit has been historically used to denote geographical regions of southern India as …

What does Dravidian mean in Sanskrit?

3) In simple terms, Dravida word in Sanskrit means a land surrounded by water (Drava) on three sides. Essentially any peninsula on planet Earth, becomes #Dravida by that definition.

What is the meaning of Sanskrit word ‘Dravidians’?

The Sanskrit word draviḍa may mean the people of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil nadu (probably the latter includes Kerala). It also refers to the cultural characteristics of people living in the said regions. A common term used is pancha drāviḍas literally ‘the five Dravidians’.

What is the meaning of Dravida in Tamil?

Second ‘drAviDa’ is a derivative of draviDa as per Sanskrit Grammar which means ‘pertaining to or the class of’ draviDa. For one thing use of drAviDa makes the party relevant not only Tamil/tamizh but to all those languages that are related to it. I am not aware how such a derivative could be formed in Tamil/tamizh.

How old is the Dravidian language family?

Researchers assume the Dravidian languages to be older than 4500 years. The Dravidian language family is considered to be the oldest language family in the Indian subcontinent and it influenced Sanskrit and its daughter languages.

Is it right to rename ‘Dravidian’ by Tamilian?

Therefore, it is not right to rename ‘Dravidian … by Tamilian … ’. The word draviḍa and its variants daviḍa, damiḍa, damila are traceable to the neighboring Telugu. Sanskrit never converts a voiceless stop into a voiced stop in the word-initial position.