The Todas and Sumeria - A Hypothesis Rejected Author(s): M. B. Emeneau Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol.

55, No. 3 (Aug., 1953), pp. 453-454 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/664063 . Accessed: 26/07/2013 23:25
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BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
THE TODAS AND SUMERIA-A HYPOTHESIS REJECTED

In a recent paper Prince Peter of Greece (1951) postulates a new "origin" for the Todas-to be added to the many already put forward and rejected (Scythian, Vedic Aryan, Israelite, Macedonian-to mention only the more fantastic suggestions). He finds in Toda ritual utterances a number of god names which he suggests may possibly be derived from Sumeria. He says specifically (p. 23): "it is not excluded that merchants from Sumeria were established in India for trade purposes, and the Todas may be the only living descendants left of such expatriated buyers." Although historical contact of some sort between Sumerian culture and the remote ancestors of the Todas is something that cannot be either proved or disproved without vastly more evidence than we are likely ever to have, it must be said that progress in Dravidian linguistic studies will provide the only convincing answer to the question as posed in this paper. During correspondence with Prince Peter on the material that he has presented, I pointed out that it was already possible to find good Dravidian etymologies for a number of the Toda words that he wished to use, and to apply to some others linguistic analysis that dissipated the similarities seen with Sumerian names. Not all of my remarks can be reproduced in a note such as this, but a few may be presented. One clear and easily stated point is that connection between the Sumerian goddess name Ninlil and the Toda ritual word for the earth is unlikely. This ritual word is identical with the ordinary Toda word neln "ground, earth," a general South Dravidian word in origin-Tamil-Malayalam nilam, Kota nelm, Kannada-Kodagu (Coorg)-Tulu nela. The Sumerian goddess Ishtar was found in the first of two ritual words referring to a village long since disappeared, to'tas of the clan ka's. These words (as I recorded The words are compounds containing them on numerous occasions) are o'tas, o'rxwi'r. the same prior member, followed in the first by tas "which is above" and in the second the alternation "stream." The prior member has two allomorphs o'- and by o'r-, kwi'r between the consonants depending probably on the following sounds as in a number of other instances. The prior form is o'r-, which may conceivably be identical with the word entrance into thicket, hole" (which, incidentally, has a perfectly sound o'r "way, Dravidian etymology). Analysis of proper names is often uncertain in the final identification of compounded elements. Nevertheless, any surface similarity to the name Ishtar has evaporated. Prince Peter has recorded ritual words that I did not have opportunity or time to get down during my fieldwork, and not all the material that we have in common will admit of final analysis and Dravidian etymologizing, since the long isolation of the Todas in the Nilgiris has produced the usual linguistic divergences from the parent stock. It is my opinion, however, that further intensive work, both in the field and in comparisons with the other Dravidian languages, will leave so small a residue of unexplained material as to make the possible Sumerian connection untenable. Intensive comparative work done since the correspondence referred to above, has cleared up the names involved in Prince Peter's first Sumerian connection. He equated the principal Toda deity a god of the dead, with Sumerian An (in Semitized form 6"n, of is I had long known that the second element Anu). One of the ritual names *"n int.w. 453

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454

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST

[55, 1953

here is tiiw "god" (indirectly borrowed from Sanskrit deva- "god"), that the first element is seen also in Ino'r "the country of the dead" (which has second element no'r "place, country"), and that the first element in both is in "the dead," which is cognate with Tamil pinam, pinan, Malayalam pinam, Kota penm, Old Kannada peina, Tulu puna, Telugu piniigu, pingu, Kuwi (Fitzgerald) pilingil, all meaning "corpse, dead has been found: Malayalam pena "ghost, body." Recently the etymology of il'n spirit," Kota pe'n, pe'nm "possession of woman by dead ancestors," Old Kannada perikuni, p~rikuli "demon," Gondi pen "a god," Kui penu "a god, a spirit," Kuwi (Fitzgerald). penii "god," (Schulze) penu "devil." In addition one must connect the following words which have different suffixes: Tamil piy "devil, goblin, fiend," peycci, pecci "demoness, woman under possession of a demon," Malayalam p8 "demon," feminine pecci, Kota pe'y "demon," Tulu payi "demon," and Old Kannada petu, Middle Kannada hWde"demon." The further implications of this family of etyma are fascinating, but still not quite certain. Have we found here the proto-Dravidian morpheme for "god"? Certainly, the fact that two central Indian languages (Gondi and Kui-Kuwi) have this meaning looks in that direction. If so, the meaning has undergone pejorative change in the southern languages that preserve the morpheme (Tamil-Malayalam-Kota p y, Kannada, Tulu) under the pressure of borrowed Indo-Aryan words for "god" (chiefly Sanskrit devaand its derivatives); Schulze's meaning "devil" for Kuwi may have been dictated by his missionary interests. The southern meaning has an exception in the Nilgiri languages Toda and Kota, that connect the words that have the -n- suffix with the realm of the dead: Toda "the god of the dead" and Kota pe'n, pe'nm "possession of ii'n woman by dead ancestors" (probably partial independent development); the Malayalam meaning "ghost" for pena cannot be checked further at present, but may be an indication of Malabar-Nilgiri connections. Both the Toda words in and 6*nhave lost initial p of proto-Dravidian, which is not a regular development in Toda, but is regular in modern Kannada, the language of the plains to the north of the Nilgiris, and in the Kannada dialect spoken by the Badagas in the Nilgiris. The Todas may have undergone influence of this sort at any time in their long history in the Nilgiris, and only further study (perhaps fieldwork on the Badaga language) will settle this point of relative chronology. To conclude, linguistic analysis, both descriptive and historical, makes or will in the long run make the major part of Prince Peter's evidence unconvincing by providing the Toda words with general Dravidian cognates. He has rightly put forward his suggestion of Sumerian connections very tentatively, but even so it cannot be accepted. I regret that my long incubation of my Toda fieldnotes has contributed in part to the possibility of making the suggestion, and can only hope that the near future will see this situation remedied. M. B. EMENEAU
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

BIBLIOGRAPHY H. R. H. PRINCE PETEROFGREECE 1951 Possible Sumerian Survivals in Toda Ritual. Bulletin

of the MadrasGovernment Museum,New Series,General Section,VI, 1, Madras.

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