VYAKARAN: South Asian Languages and Linguistics Net
Editors: Tej K. Bhatia, Syracuse University, New York
John Peterson, University of Osnabrueck, Germany
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<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:tahoma, new york, times, serif;font-size:10pt"><DIV>Re Prof Schiffman's comments on Chennai, there are additional aspects to be considered, I feel:</DIV>
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<DIV>1. Many of the cities prominent today had no old and traditional names. Many were just fishing or trading villages which in time grew to being big cities. So the name itself might have had currency only from Colonial times. Sometimes more than one name might have been used. </DIV>
<DIV>2. In the case of Chennai, the name Chennapatnam is said to be the local name dating back to the late 17th century. However this name would have got reduced in currency over the centuries as British administrative name for this city was Madras. Nevertheless, in Tamil and Telugu the name was always used albeit in short form as 'patnam' ('The City'). My own late father (Madras born and raised) and all his relatives always refered to Madras in ordinary conversation as 'patnam'. My Mothers' family, from Thanjavur, likewise used the term 'patnam' for Madras. I daresay 'patnam' was the pre 1950's Spoken Standard Tamil name for the city :) Also, most Tamil, Telugu, grantha books printed in the 30's or before, seem to refer to the city as 'Chennai(i)pat(ta)nam'. </DIV>
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<DIV>Over a period of time, Madras seems to have superseded 'patnam' completely. The fact that a strange name like 'Madras' - blessed by Colonial administration - completely superseded a native name like 'patnam' can also be seen in the fact that even in Tamil, the name 'Madras' has many different spellings. Again, in Malayalam, it has a completely different spelling than any of the Tamil ones. 'Chennai' on the other hand is spelt the same way in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. Perhaps in this case, we should consider this as a case of a foreign name, though not English, completely replacing the native name. This has been reversed now. <BR></DIV>
<DIV>Hope tis helps,</DIV>
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<DIV>Lakshmi Srinivas</DIV>
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<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Harold Schiffman <haroldfs@GMAIL.COM><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> VYAKARAN@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Wed, May 18, 2011 3:30:31 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Question about city names that are being renamed<BR></FONT><BR>VYAKARAN: South Asian Languages and Linguistics Net Editors: Tej K. Bhatia, Syracuse University, New York John Peterson, University of Osnabrueck, Germany Details: Send email to <A href="mailto:listserv@listserv.syr.edu" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:listserv@listserv.syr.edu">listserv@listserv.syr.edu</A> and say: INFO VYAKARAN Subscribe:Send email to <A href="mailto:listserv@listserv.syr.edu" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:listserv@listserv.syr.edu">listserv@listserv.syr.edu</A> and say: SUBSCRIBE VYAKARAN FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME (Substitute your real name
for first_name last_name) Archives: http://listserv.syr.edu Hi, all:<BR><BR>I've been asked by a colleague in another (non-South Asian) area of the world<BR>what is the history of colonial city naming in India, and whether it is possible to<BR>reconstruct what the "original" names for Bombay/Mumbai, Madras/Chennai, and<BR>Calcutta/Kolkata. <BR><BR>Two questions in particular I have is whether (1) Bombay was ever called Mumbai by<BR>speakers of other languages of India, other than Marathi, and (2) when exactly did the<BR>call for renaming Bombay as Mumbai began? I'd be interested to know how recently<BR>this phenomenon is. <BR><BR>I know that in the case of Madras/Chennai, I never heard of "Chennai" when I first went<BR>to Tamilnadu (then called Madras State) in 1965 and only later was there a push to rename the<BR>city.<BR><BR>I keep in mind an incident from when I was involved in SEASSI and went to Hanoi to<BR>recruit teachers of
Vietnamese. We noticed that when speaking Vietnamese, people<BR>referred to Saigon as Saigon, but when speaking English, they called it Ho Chi Minh City.<BR>So I'm wondering whether this practice is all current in referring to Indian city names.<BR><BR>Hal Schiffman<BR clear=all><BR>-- <BR>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<BR><BR> Harold F. Schiffman<BR><BR>Professor Emeritus of <BR> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <BR>Dept. of South Asia Studies <BR>University of Pennsylvania<BR>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<BR><BR>Phone: (215) 898-7475<BR>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <BR><BR>Email: <A href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" rel=nofollow target=_blank
ymailto="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</A><BR>http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/ <BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------<BR></DIV></DIV></div></body></html>