Traders from England took to our local customs, clothing and as it turns out, our languages too. Here’s a list of words that have their roots in South Indian languages, namely Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
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Mango: The anglicised word for mango is manga in Malayalam and Tamil. Speakers of both languages dispute its origin but suffice it to say that English name for this tropical fruit originates from Dravidian languages.
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Bamboo: The word has its origin in Kannada and its pronounced slightly differently as bambu.
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Bandicoot: This word originates from Telugu and is known as pandi-kootu.
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Catamaran: This word for a yacht or a boat originates from Tamil. In the local language, it’s called kattumaran.
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Coir: This comes from the Malayalam word, kayaru.
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Jackfruit: This word bears no resemblance to its root word, chakka. But the word Jackfruit originates from Malayalam.
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Dhole: This name, given to the Asiatic wild dog originates from Kannada. In the local language, it is used to describe a young wolf and is pronounced as tola.
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Calico: The name of this textile originates from the place where it was woven- Calicut. Calico was dyed with patterns and was exported to Europe.
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