The Taprobanian (1.1885/1886(1887))

24

THE TAPROBANIAN.

[October, 1885.

personage it symbolises, with tortoise, crocodile,
or any such scaly object.
Iguana, munda.
Also the symbol of a king, I believe of Men-on ;
his clan became the Mundas. Coast Vaedda,
hella, the white, is in antithesis to the kalu or
black iguana. Goy-botah is adoption of Elu
goya, a form of Godha, and I incline to think
both are early forms of goyiya, ghora, now a
cultivator who uses cattle, in a sense of a plougher
of the soil. The original words would mean a
native of Godhana, which I used to think a cor-
ruption of go-dana ox-alms, not go-dhana ox-
wealth, originally. I am now inclined to think
it is really derived from a kingdom originally
go-sthana go-thana, or go-dana, from a form
allied to Elu deniya, “ place,’’ whence it too
became later Godhana. Hence the Coast Vaedda
goya, goy-botah, and S. goya, the symbol taking
the title of the symbolised. It is evident by the
hieroglyphs contained in the names elephant and
iguana that the Vaeddas and Coast Vaeddas are
not quite the same, and that the latter follow the
symbolism of the Sinhalese words.
Lizard, kat-tomba.
S. katussa is the equivalent term ; confer Tam.
udumpu“ iguana,” which in Sinhalese would be-
come uthumba; these all seem to come from a
Gaurian form dumva “tailed,” and kat-tomba is
spike-tail, udumbu may possibly be corrupted from
uth(u) arrow, dart, through uththumba. Katussa,
and S. gonussa scorpion, are also royal emblems,
and katussa seems to combine the katof kat-tomba,
and the uthu of uthumpu; perhaps each of these
is formed derisively, with a secondary sense, and
a derogatory combination with tail or rump, ideas
associated in Tam. pussam, or S. puka rump.
Tomba is probably more correctly written tumba,
the short o being a rarer sound, and evidently
not needed here.
Snake, polongi.
S. polon used in combinations; it is a name of
the Earth-god I believe, as Merodach of Chaldea,
Polongi however makes it feminine. On or
Vishnu as on-gi of Pol-on-gi being a form of
Mohini. I do not positively know the root of gi,
but it evidently is contracted from givi, which
recalls Rod. gaewi “a woman,” and the origin
probably is a primitive root Vgu to conceive and
cover in the womb, found also in Greek gune, S.
gaeni “woman,” Sans, garbha, S. gaba or gaeba
“ womb,” which would be connected with Sans.
Vghu “ conceal.” The same idea seems carried
out in English where gaevi, gaeni, gi, is replaced

by “ woman,” connected with a word for gesta-
tion akin to Old Engl, wamba “ womb,” the Elu
wami, “woman,” and German weib. If for S.
gaba, gaeba, we put kaba, haba, vaba, vaeba, we
see whence womb “ the covering,” and wami, weib,
the coverer or gestatrix, and wimman, wemman, as
if gabbana all derive. We have for comparison S.
lembi “femaleof horse,” and Engl, lamb “ offspring
of sheep,” also similarly connected together.
Polonga, a Sinhalese derivative with the original
sense seemingly lost, is now used only for the
viper (Daboia). The Coast Vaedda sara-botah is
a form of Elu saera, “arrow,” and sara, arrow or
reed; all deriving from an old Chaldean root for
“reed.” The Coast Vaedda name is evidently
Elu, for in Sinhalese a beautiful painted snake,
marked with red and golden-yellow, is called Mai
Sara, or painted snake, a name which has nothing
directly to do with Sinh. Malsara, the flower
archer, or Cupid. It belongs to the family
of words among which are Sinh, sarpaya, a
snake, Lat. serpens, &c. The Sanskrit derivative
sarpaya has nearly driven out of sight the obscured
Elu sara.
Snail, tomba.
This is, as we have seen, “ tailed ” one.
Bird, sappi, chappi, sattriaye.
Sappi may perhaps be paksha “bird,” after or
before metathesis, and sappi would then be only
a form of an original sappivi, with which we may
compare, Tam. sappa, chappa “ eat,” and paksha
“bird” with Sans, bhaksha. Sappi then would
mean “ a feeder.” Perhapshowever it is a mimetic
term and means “ a chirper.” As to sattriaye, I
cannot tell how to pronounce it; sathar-irdiya
“flying,” literally flying in the fourfold irdi way,
is perhaps the word Bailey heard. Evidently
either he or his informant was puzzled by its
sound, for no Ceylon race could pronounce it
naturally in its present form : was it saththiriya ?
a natural form of satharirdiya. I have not heard
it.
Crow, kalu eka.
This is a modern adoption evidently, crows are
not met with often in the wilds frequented by
the Vaeddas.
To Walk, mang waettina, mitagana.
Theformeris “to go along the road,” Elu rnaga,
Sans, marga “road,” being represented by mang,
with which compare Old Sinh, um-mang for ul-
mang, “internal road” or tunnel. Both the
idiom and words agree with S. maga waettenawa,
and I do not think the Vaedda term at all to be
trusted, probably being adopted more or less