Lingua Malabar Tamul

Lingua Malabar Tamul or simply Malabar Tamil is a variant of the Tamil language ^[1] promoted by European Missionaries in southern parts of Kerala state like Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts before they started promoting Malayalam language among newly converted Christians. ^[2] Malabar Tamil differs significantly from standard Tamil in its selection of vocabulary. Initially Malabar Tamil was printed using Roman script. ^[3] Later on, printing using Tamil script became widespread. ^[4]

Etymology

The word Malabar is derived from the words "mala-bar". Malai in Tamil means "hill". Bar in Persian/Arabic means "country" or "nation". ^{[5] [6]}

Gallery

• 
  Doctrina Christam/Thambiran vanakkam (printed in 1578)
• 
  Flos Santorum/Kirisithiani Vanakkam (printed in 1579)
• 
  Cartilha, Germano Galhadro printed in Lisbon on 11 February 1554

See also

• Thambiran Vanakkam
• Printing in Tamil language
• Henrique Henriques

References

1. Xavier S. Thani Nayagam (1957). Tamil Culture. Academy of Tamil Culture. p. 246.
2. S. Jeyaseela Stephen (1998). Portuguese in the Tamil coast: historical explorations in commerce and culture, 1507-1749. Navajothi Pub. House. pp. 328–329. ISBN   9788187382003.
3. Stuart H. Blackburn (2006). Print, Folklore, and Nationalism in Colonial South India. Orient Blackswan. p. 33. ISBN   978-81-7824-149-4.
4. Bellary Shamanna Kesavan (1984). History of Printing and Publishing in India: South Indian origins of printing. National Book Trust, India. p. 28.
5. C. A. Innes and F. B. Evans, Malabar and Anjengo, volume 1, Madras District Gazetteers (Madras: Government Press, 1915), p. 2.
6. M. T. Narayanan, Agrarian Relations in Late Medieval Malabar (New Delhi: Northern Book Centre, 2003), xvi-xvii.