Malayalam
names 36objects 23ISO 639-3 mal
Spoken in Kerala (Malabar, Cochin, Travancore).
vernacular 10 · folk 4 · borrowed 22
See the Malayalam sky on the chart →
The sky in Malayalam
| Name | Object | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| മീന് mīn | 'Star' as a word | 'fish'; also 'that which glitters' (Gundert derives it from മിന് 'to glitter') The inherited Dravidian word for a star. It is the productive element in the vernacular sky vocabulary: കൊളളിമീന് meteor, വാല്മീന് comet, വെണ്മീന്/വെഴ്മീന്/പെരുമീന് Venus. | vernacular |
| രോഹിണി rōhiṇi | Aldebaran | 'the red one' Aṣṭamirōhiṇi, the eighth lunar day falling in Rohiṇi in the month Ciṅṅam, is Kṛṣṇa's birthday and a fast day in Kerala. | borrowed |
| തിരുവോണം / ഓണം tiruvōṇam / ōṇam | Altair | തിരു- 'sacred' + ഓണം (< Skt. śrāvaṇa) Names the national festival of Kerala: Gundert, 'the national feast on new moon of Sept. lasting 10 days, when Paraśurāma is still said to visit Kēraḷa'. | borrowed |
| കേട്ട / തൃക്കേട്ട kēṭṭa / tṛkkēṭṭa | Antares | തൃ- (< തിരു) is the honorific 'sacred' Tṛkkēṭṭa is one of the inauspicious birth-stars in Kerala reckoning; Gundert lists it under ഗണ്ഡാന്തം (p. 329), the perilous junctions of the asterism cycle. | borrowed |
| ചോതി cōti | Arcturus | — | borrowed |
| അഗസ്തി agasti | Canopus | the sage Agastya | borrowed |
| ധൂമകേതു dhūmakētu | Comets | 'having smoke for its banner' Gundert's citation is about the direction of its rising: 'ധൂ. പടിഞ്ഞാറു ഉദിക്ക' — the comet rises in the west (from Brahmāṇḍapurāṇam), an omen datum. | borrowed |
| കുറക്കൊള്ളി kuṟakkoḷḷi | Comets | 'defect-firebrand' (കുറ want, defect, blemish + കൊള്ളി firebrand) An omen-word: Gundert glosses it 'a threatening meteor' and quotes a line meaning 'suddenly from the sky, the ku[ṟakkoḷḷi]'. | folk |
| വാല്മീന് vālmīn | Comets | 'tail-star' (വാല് tail + മീന് star) Gundert marks it V1 (Visscher/older vocabularies), i.e. attested in the earlier Malabar word-lists rather than only in literature. | vernacular |
| വാല്നക്ഷത്രം vālnakṣatram | Comets | 'tail-star' (native വാല് 'tail' + Sanskrit नक्षत्र) | vernacular |
| കൊളളിമീന് koḷḷimīn | Meteors and shooting stars | 'firebrand-star' (കൊളളി firebrand + മീന് star) Used with the verb വീഴുക 'to fall': കൊളളിമീന് വീഴുക 'a meteor falls'. Gundert also records അശനിക്കൊളളിമീന് 'thunderbolt-firebrand-star' from Kṛṣṇagāthā, in a list of portents alongside earthquake. | vernacular |
| ഉല്ക ulka | Meteors and shooting stars | 'firebrand' | borrowed |
| Tiruvatira (Ardra star) | Orion | Ethnographic confirmation that the asterism, not merely the festival name, is what Kerala reckons by: Thurston lists it among the Nambūtiri Brahman observances of the year, fixed to the month of Dhanu, preceded by seven days of pre-dawn bathing and kept as a night vigil by husband and wife. | borrowed |
| ഇന്വകകള് invakakaḷ | Orion | — | borrowed |
| മകയിരം makayiram | Orion | — | borrowed |
| ആതിര / തിരുവാതിര ātira / tiruvātira | Orion | തിരു- is the honorific 'sacred, holy' The most socially prominent asterism in Kerala. Tiruvātira in Dhanu is a women's festival of Śiva; the Tiruvātira ñāṟṟu at the start of Mithunam is the planting period at the burst of the south-west monsoon (Gundert s.v. ഞാറു, p. 412). | borrowed |
| ഞേങ്ങോല് ñēṅṅōl | Orion's Belt | 'plough-shaft' (the beam of a plough) An agricultural time-marker. Gundert: it rises in the month of Dhanu (mid-December to mid-January) about an hour after sunset, and its rising tells the cultivator when to do ചക്രം ചവിട്ടുക — 'to clear a ricefield of water preparatory to sowing' (Gundert s.v. ചക്രം, p. 340). | folk |
| മകം makam | Regulus | Proverbial: മകം പിറന്ന മങ്ക, 'a girl born under Makam' — an auspicious birth. | borrowed |
| മുഴക്കോല് muḻakkōl | Seasonal and agricultural star-markers | 'cubit-rod, measuring rod' (മുഴം a cubit + കോല് rod) — the carpenter's 24-finger measure Second name of the same asterism as ഞേങ്ങോല്; the agricultural use is given at that entry. | folk |
| ഞാററുവേലി ñāṟṟuvēli | Seasonal and agricultural star-markers | 'the ñāṟṟu times' (variant ഞാററുവാല) The days within an asterism-period that are fixed on for transplanting rice. | vernacular |
| ചിത്ര / ചിത്തിര citra / cittira | Spica | 'the bright, variegated one' | borrowed |
| സുരവാഹിനി suravāhini | The Milky Way | 'the river of the gods' | borrowed |
| ആകാശഗംഗ ākāśagaṅga | The Milky Way | 'the sky-Ganges' | borrowed |
| കാര്ത്തിക kārttika | The Pleiades | Weather proverb: കാര്ത്തിക കഴിഞ്ഞാല് മഴയില്ല, 'once Kārttika is past there is no more rain' — the Pleiades period marking the end of the north-east monsoon. | borrowed |
| ഞാററുതല ñāṟṟutala | The Sun | 'the head/beginning of the ñāṟṟu' — ñāṟṟu being both 'rice seedling' and the sun's station The Kerala farming calendar: the solar year is divided into stretches during which the sun stands in one asterism, each stretch named after that asterism and each carrying its own agricultural prescription. Gundert's worked example is തിരുവാതിരഞാററുതല, the Ārdrā period at the start of Mithunam (mid-June), 'best time for planting' — the onset of the south-west monsoon. | vernacular |
| അശ്വതി, ഭരണി, കാര്ത്തിക, രോഹിണി, മകയിരം, തിരുവാതിര, പുണര്തം, പൂയം, ആയില്യം, മകം, പൂരം, ഉത്രം, അത്തം, ചിത്ര, ചോതി, വിശാഖം, അനുഴം, തൃക്കേട്ട, മൂലം, പൂരാടം, ഉത്രാടം, തിരുവോണം, അവിട്ടം, ചതയം, പൂരുരുട്ടാതി, ഉത്രട്ടാതി, ഇരവതി aśvati, bharaṇi, kārttika, rōhiṇi, makayiram, tiruvātira, puṇartam, pūyam, āyilyam, makam, pūram, utram, attam, citra, cōti, viśākham, anuḻam, tṛkkēṭṭa, mūlam, pūrāṭam, utrāṭam, tiruvōṇam, aviṭṭam, catayam, pūruruṭṭāti, utraṭṭāti, iravati | The lunar mansions as a system | Malayalam uses the full 27-nakshatra series and it still governs birth-star reckoning, name-giving, marriage-matching and festival dates. Gundert's ജന്മനക്ഷത്രം is 'the asterism, under which one is born' (p. 403), and അനുജന്മനക്ഷത്രം 'the 10th and 19th asterisms after the ജന്മനക്ഷത്രം' (p. 28) shows the derived reckoning already lexicalised in 1872. | borrowed |
| നക്ഷത്രം nakṣatram | The lunar mansions as a system | Also the everyday word for a person's birth-star: ജന്മനക്ഷത്രം, 'the asterism under which one is born' (Gundert s.v. ജന്മം, p. 403). | borrowed |
| നാള് nāḷ | The lunar mansions as a system | 'day' The everyday Malayalam word for a person's birth-star, and the one that does the social work: Gundert's illustrative phrase is നാളും പൊരുത്തവും നോക്കി നിശ്ചയിക്ക, 'to settle [a marriage] after examining the nāḷ and the compatibility'. He also records the classification of the asterisms as ആണ്നാള് 'male nāḷ' and പെണ്നാള് 'female nāḷ' (cf. s.v. പെണ്, p. 699), and മുന്നാള് 'the 3rd asterism from that of the nativity' (s.v. മുന്, p. 837). | vernacular |
| ധ്രുവം / ധ്രുവന് dhruvam / dhruvan | The pole star | 'the fixed one' ധ്രുവം കൂട്ടുക is a technical phrase 'to make an astrological calculation'. | borrowed |
| ഭഗണം bhagaṇam | The zodiac | 'the troop of stars' (ഭം a star + ഗണം troop) A technical term of Kerala astronomy: ഭഗണം also means a complete revolution, and ഭഗണഭൂദിനങ്ങള് 'revolutions and civil days in a caturyuga' is quoted from a Malayalam gaṇita text. | borrowed |
| സപ്തര്ഷികള് saptarṣikaḷ | Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) | 'the seven sages' | borrowed |
| ഋക്ഷം ṛkṣam | Ursa Minor | 'bear' Used in the compound ജന്മര്ക്ഷദിനം 'the day of one's birth-asterism'. | borrowed |
| വെള്ളി veḷḷi | Venus | 'silver' Simultaneously 'silver', 'Venus' and 'Friday' — the planet names the weekday, as in വെള്ളിയാഴ്ച Friday, which Gundert notes is the day 'when women & cows must not journey'. | vernacular |
| വെണ്മീന് veṇmīn | Venus | 'white star' (വെണ് white + മീന് star) | vernacular |
| കൊററി koṟṟi | Venus as morning star | North Malabar dialect (Gundert's 'No.' = Northern). Used with the verb of rising: കൊററി ഉദിച്ചു 'the morning star has risen' — the phrase of a rural day beginning. | folk |
| പെരുമീന് perumīn | Venus as morning star | 'great star' (പെരു- big, great + മീന് star) Specifically the morning apparition of Venus. | vernacular |
Sources
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (Mangalore, 1872), s.v. മീന് mīn, p. 822 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. രോഹം rōham, p. 889 (sub-entry രോഹിണി) link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. തിരുന്പുക tirumpuka, p. 459 (sub-entry തിരുവോണം); and s.v. ഓണം ōṇam, p. 184 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. കേട്ട kēṭṭa, p. 293 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ചോതി cōti, p. 396 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. അഗസ്തി agasti, p. 6 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ധൂമം dhūmam, p. 521 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. കുറ kuṟa, p. 270 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. വാല് vāl, p. 938 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. കൊളളി koḷḷi, p. 310 (also s.v. മീന്, p. 822) link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ഉല്ക ulka, p. 144 link
- Thurston & Rangachari, Castes and Tribes of Southern India (Madras, 1909), vol. V, s.v. Nambutiri Brahman, pp. 194–195 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ഇന്വകകള് invakakaḷ, p. 108 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. മകയിരം makayiram, p. 769 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ആതിര ātira, p. 79 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ഞേങ്ങോല് ñēṅṅōl, p. 413 (sense 3) link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. മകം makam, p. 769 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. മുഴം muḻam, p. 846 (sub-entry മുഴക്കോല്, sense 2) link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ഞാറു ñāṟu, p. 412 (sub-entries ഞാററുവാല, ഞാററുവേലി) link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ചിത്ര citra, p. 361 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. സുര sura, p. 1060 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ആകാശം ākāśam, p. 70 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. കാര്ത്തിക kārttika, p. 240 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ഞാറു ñāṟu, p. 412; and s.v. തല tala, p. 436 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.vv. അശ്വതി p. 64, ഭരം (ഭരണി) p. 759, കാര്ത്തിക p. 240, രോഹം (രോഹിണി) p. 889, മകയിരം p. 769, ആതിര p. 79, പുണര് (പുണര്തം) p. 673, ആയിലിയം p. 85, മകം p. 769, ഉത്രം (also ഉത്രാടം, ഉത്രട്ടാതി) p. 129, അത്തം p. 22, ചിത്ര p. 361, ചോതി p. 396, വിശരി (വിശാഖ) p. 961, അനുഴം p. 27, കേട്ട p. 293, മൂലം p. 853, പൂരണം (പൂരാടം) p. 693, ഓണം p. 184 / തിരുവോണം p. 459, അവിട്ടം p. 62, ചതയം p. 343, ഇരവതി p. 109 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. നക്ഷത്രം nakṣatram, p. 524 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. നാള് nāḷ, p. 547 (sense 2) link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ധ്രുവം dhruvam, p. 523 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ഭഗണം bhagaṇam, p. 756 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. സപ്തം saptam, p. 1036 (sub-entry സപ്തര്ഷികള്); the seven are named s.v. ഋഷി, p. 154 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. ഋക്ഷം ṛkṣam, p. 153 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. വെള്ളി veḷḷi, p. 987 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. വെണ് veṇ, p. 981 link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. കൊററം koṟṟam, p. 309 (sub-entry കൊററി, sense 3) link
- Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary (1872), s.v. പെരുക്കുക perukkuka, p. 701 (sub-entry പെരുമീന്) link