The roots of the word Dravid

(http://rivr.sulekha.com/the-roots-of-the-word-dravid_183713_blog)
Adi Sankara (nearly thirteen centuries ago) called himself Dravid-putra, meaning most likely as belonging to a region near water (sea or river). Dravid thus could imply to be the boundary or area near water. Consider the following, Drav (or dravya, meaning water) + Vid (veed or beed, meaning ridge / edge) DravVid (used initially colloquially to represent area closest to a river, lake or sea) DraVid or Dravid (with accent on v)

Comment on the relationship between Dravid and southern peninsula

There is no circumstantial evidence for the origin or direct relation of the word Dravid with India-southof-the-Vindhyas or southern peninsula. Dravid also does not reflect the speakers of any particular language (Tamil or Sanskrit for example) even though it might originally be derived from Sanskrit language to express something rather small or insignificant (as indicated above). If the intention of the original people had been to come up with a word reflecting their cultural and linguistic heritage, they would have chosen a word sounding as Sanskrida or Tamida (in stead of Dravid / Dravida) for themselves and their region (whether Sanskrit or Tamil speaking). Moreover, mentioning the word Dravidian (a derivative of Dravid), with reference to SI languages, in 150 years old dictionaries also does not prove that Dravid or Dravidian originally represented any specific region, culture or language. It simply might be that the word Dravid existed for a long time with different connotations, but lost its original meaning over time and later it was conveniently (or by mistake) used for something else - even the bigger / larger area. It could then easily find its way, along with the latest meaning, into the prevailing literature and dictionaries (even 150 years old). In any case, the southern peninsula (identified now as Dravid) was essentially an undefined and uncharted territory until quite recently, and people generally were unaware about its northern extremities. The boundary between north India and south India is not clearly defined. Thus there would hardly be any need for people to coin a new word (e.g. Dravid) for a region of which they had very little geographical concept or idea as to how far it extended. This implies that, since the word was already in existence for a long time, Dravid first appeared to mean something other than the southern peninsula. Dravid or Dravida most likely started as representing the area near water (as explained above), and it was even used as such by Adi Sankara long ago. Note that this territorial application of Dravid was quite relevant and specific (to a small area) and, unlike in the case of entire unknown SI region, it could be related to and understood by everyone (including the locals).

Popularity of this obscure word (representing any small coastal territory) probably grew when famous Sankara (or someone else) used it in reference to himself. Since it first gained prominence in relation to a person from southern part of the country, its meaning and scope could also be twisted and expanded in that direction. For example, people elsewhere immediately could have related Dravid with the entire southern region and not just a few coastal villages where Sankara came from. As the time passed and people everywhere learnt more about the southern peninsula, Dravid became synonymous with the entire area south of the Vindhyas. In the process, even the adjective form of Dravid -- Dravidian (based on the English language) -- was used to categorize the southern people and languages. Needles to say, Dravid and Dravidian found their way into the subsequent literatures and dictionaries with their new and expanded meanings. But all this just represents an evolution of the very old Dravid from its humble beginning - as a small coastal area.

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A COMMENT BY Vaidyanathan Pushpagiri http://forums.sulekha.com/forums/philosophy/the-roots-of-the-word-dravid.htm

Adi Sankara once called himself Dravid-putra, meaning most likely as belonging to a region near water. Dravid thus could imply to be the boundary or area near water.: Consider the following.: Drav (or dravya, meaning water) + Vid (veed or beed, meaning ridge / edge) : DravVid (used initially colloquially to represent area closest to a river, lake or sea) : DraVid or Dravid (with accent on v).: - SevaThen why others who live close to the sea, river or lake in the East and West of India, do not call themselves Dravidputhra? If it applies to the South of the Vindhyas, it should equally apply to the North of the Vindhyas.This has been a bone of contention between those who claim that Tamil, as a language is totally different, and has no connection with Sanskrit, while others like the Seer of Kanchi, maintain that etymologically, Tamil originated from Sanskrit.Several weeks earlier, I had posted extensively on this subject. I give below a short summary of what I had written then.The Kanchi Maha Periyaval, Jagatguru Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi, has always maintained, that etymologically the origin of Dravid is from the Sanskrit word Thravidh. This denotes "Dravidian people and language of southern India, 1734, from Pali Damila, from Sanskrit. Dramila, variant of Dravida".The above definition of the word Dravida is taken from the Etymological dictionary and available on line. [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php? search=dravidian&searchmode=none]The same dictionary defines a Dravidian as follows: Tamil. 1856, "pertaining to the race in southern India or the languages spoken by them," from Sanskrit. Dravidah, name of a region in southern India. The Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) definition of a Dravidian is "a family of languages, wholly distinct from Indo-European, spoken mostly in southern India and Sri Lanka and including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and, in Pakistan, Brahui"Origin: 185560; Skt. Dravid(a) ethnonym + -ian]The American Heritage Dictionary defines a Dravidian as "A large family of languages spoken especially in southern India and northern Sri Lanka that includes Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. A member of any of the peoples that speak one of the Dravidian languages, especially a member of one of the pre-Indo-European peoples of southern India."So from available sources, it can be ascertained that etmologically the word Dravid is derived from the Sanskrit root thravidh, and would refer to people who were inhabiting an area where this language was spoken.Further, if one is to believe the Seer of Kanchi, he said that when these people migrated to other distant places like Karnataka or the North of India, they added this 'padhavi' to their names,to establish that they were from the distant South and have a distinct identity, like what the present captain of the Indian Cricket Team is having. The Kanchi Mahaperiyaval also asserts that all these people were brahmins.It could also be possible that it may have been what you said, in your post.Personaly, I believe the Kanchi Maha Periyaval, because I know that he would not utter something in which he did not believe. Regards. Rajaputhran.

Origins of the word Dravidian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_languages#Origins_of_the_word_Dravi dian

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 drvia in the work Tantravrttika by Kumrila Bhaa (Zvelebil 1990 p.xx). Caldwell used 'Dravidian' as a generic name for the family of languages spoken in Southern India to distinguish them from Indo-Aryan, the branch of Indo-European spoken in the Indian subcontinent. Before Caldwell, the word drvia was traditionally used to designate the Tamil language and people, and vaguely the people of South India. In his own words, Caldwell says, "The word I have chosen is Dravidian, from Drvia, the adjectival form of Dravida. This term, it is true, has sometimes been used, and is still sometimes used, in almost as restricted a sense as that of Tamil itself, so that though on the whole it is the best term I can find, I admit it is not perfectly free from ambiguity. It is a term which has already been used more or less distinctively by Sanskrit philologists, as a generic appellation for the South Indian people and their languages, and it is the only single term they ever seem to have used in this manner. I have, therefore, no doubt of the propriety of adopting it."[4] As for the origin of the Sanskrit word drvia itself there have been various theories proposed. Basically the theories are about the direction of derivation between tami and drvia. There is no definite philological and linguistic basis for asserting unilaterally that the name Dravida also forms the origin of the word Tamil (Dravida -> Dramila -> Tamizha or Tamil). Kamil Zvelebil cites the forms such as dramila (in Dain's Sanskrit work Avanisundarkath) damia (found in Ceylonese chronicle Mahavamsa) and then goes on to say (ibid. page xxi), "The forms damia/damila almost certainly provide a connection of dr(a/)via " and "... tami < tami ...whereby the further development might have been *tami > *dami > damia- / damila- and further, with the intrusive, 'hypercorrect' (or perhaps analogical) -r-, into dr(a/)via. The -m-/-v- alternation is a common enough phenomenon in Dravidian phonology" (Zvelebil 1990 p.xxi) Zvelebil in his earlier treatise (Zvelebil 1975: p53) states, "It is obvious that the Sanskrit dr(a/)via, Pali damila, damio and Prakrit d(a/)via are all etymologically connected with tami" and further remarks "The r in tami > dr(a/)via is a hypercorrect insertion, cf. an analogical case of DED 1033 Ta. kamuku, Tu. kangu "areca nut": Skt. kramu(ka)." Further, another Dravidian linguist Bhadriraju Krishnamurti in his book Dravidian Languages (Krishnamurti 2003: p. 2, footnote 2) states, "Joseph (1989: IJDL 18.2:134-42) gives extensive references to the use of the term dravia, dramila first as the name of a people, then of a country. Sinhala BCE inscriptions cite damea-, damela- denoting Tamil merchants. Early Buddhist and Jaina sources used damia- to refer to a people of south India (presumably Tamil); damilaraha- was a southern non-Aryan country; dramia-, dramia, and draviawere used as variants to designate a country in the south (Bhatsamhita-, Kdambar, Daakumracarita-, fourth to seventh centuries CE) (1989: 134138). It appears that damia- was older than dravia- which could be its Sanskritization." Based on what Krishnamurti states referring to a scholarly paper published in the International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, the Sanskrit word dravia itself is later than damia since the dates for the forms with -r- are centuries later than the dates for the forms without -r- (damia, damea-, damela- etc.). The Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary lists for the Sanskrit word dravia a meaning of "collective Name for 5 peoples, viz. the ndhras, Karakas, Gurjaras, Tailagas, and Mahrras".[5]