Brahmin Tamil - Differences With Standard Tamil - Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Brahmin Tamil varies slightly from the standard Tamil. It retains minor adaptations of classical Tamil (Centamil) words which are no longer in common usage, like ām, the Brahmin Tamil word for "house" which is derived from the archaic Tamil word Akam while it also incorporates Sanskrit corruptions as the Brahmin Tamil word for water thūtham which is a corruption of the Sanskrit theertham. While non-Brahmin Tamils generally tend to use Sanskrit derivatives in their Prakrit form, Brahmins tend to use Sanskrit words in their original. According to Bright and Ramanujan (1964),

It is the Brahmin dialect which has innovated by introducing the loan words. Brahmin Tamil frequently preserves non-native phonology, which non-Brahmin Tamil assimilates to native pattern
Differences with standard Tamil
Brahmin Tamil Standard Tamil English Notes
Avāl, Avā Averkal they Probably derived from the Telugu word Vālu meaning "person"
Ivāl, Ivā Ivērkal these people
Ām Vītu house Derived from Old Tamil Akam
Thūtham, Jalam Taṇṇīr water Thūtham is largely used in the Thanjavur sub-dialect and is derived from the Sanskrit Tīrtham. Iyengars, however, use the Sanskrit original.
Sittha Konjam some Probably derived from Tamil Sattru meaning "a little."
Manni Anni elder brother's wife
Athimbēr Athai kozhunan paternal aunt's husband
Kshēmam Nalam goodness (esp. with regard to health) Derived from Sanskrit
Ṉōkki Unakku Thee Developed from Unakku
Ṉēkki Enakku Me Developed from Enakku
Vāṅkō Vāruṅkal (Literary), Vāṅka (Spoken) Come
Pōṅkō Pōṅka Go
Āmutaiyān Vītukkāran Husband Derived from Akam (house)

The Ramanujan-Bright hypothesis which examined Brahmin Tamil in detail concluded -

In general, the Brahmin dialect seems to show great innovation on the more conscious levels of linguistic change – those of borrowing and semantic extension—while the non-Brahmin dialect shows greater innovation in less conscious type of change—those involving phonemic and morphological replacements

Bright attributes these changes to the comparatively high literacy rate of the Brahmin community.

A possible hypothesis is that literacy, most common among Brahmins has acted as a brake on change in their dialects-that the ‘frozen’ phonology and grammar of the literary language have served to retard change in Brahmin speech
Nicknames

There are also a few nicknames and sobriquets used in Brahmin Tamil alone.

Nickname Source Meaning Usage
Ammānji Portmanteau of Amman and Sei God's creation Used to denote a simple, dutiful child
Pillaiyāndān Pillai and Āndavan

Read more about this topic:  Brahmin Tamil, Differences With Standard Tamil

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