Etymology
The name Kerala takes the form Keralam in Malayalam, the main language of the state. Two thousand years ago, one of three states in the region was called Cheralam in Classical Tamil. K. M. George, a leading native Malayali linguist and historian of the language, has confirmed the widespread belief that Chera and Kera are variants of the same word. A 3rd-century BCE rock inscription by north Indian emperor Asoka the Great refers to the local ruler as Keralaputra (Sanskrit for "son of Kerala"; or "son of Chera", with some semantic connection to coconuts). The Graeco-Roman trade map Periplus Maris Erythraei refers to this Keralaputra as Celobotra.
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)