4 ms·

Tamil is a classical language like greek, hebrew, chinese etc. Its much older than telugu and the other Indian languages. Malayalam and kanada is derived from t

Tamil is a classical language like greek, hebrew, chinese etc. Its much older than telugu and the other Indian languages. Malayalam and kanada is derived from tamil

nagVenkat 9y ago
Calling Tamil much older than Telugu is probably not appropriate. They both developed during the same time.
swatkat 9y ago
Malayalam diverged from Tamil. But, Kannada is not a derivative of tamil.
- psankar 9y ago
  Of course Kannada evolved from ancient Tamil. If you know both the languages, you can easily find root words for most current day Kannada words in ancient Tamil sangam poetry (like ooru=>oor referring to town, kaaveri=>kaaviri, etc.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_languages Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam all have higher degrees of impact due to Sanskrit but they are all dravidian languages, derived from ancient Tamil.
  - panglott 9y ago
    Your Wikipedia link disagrees that all of the Dravidian languages are derived from ancient Tamil. It describes them as common descendents of Proto-Dravidian. It cites the attested literature of Tamil as being 2,000 years old.
btbytes 9y ago
Ha! typical propaganda. Why are some of you Tamils are so insecure about the "antiquity" of your language. I even mentioned Tamil before my own. But, NO!! You had to come here and tell something irrelevant.
- psibi 9y ago
  Disclaimer: A Tamilian but doesn't know to read or write it (lived in the northern states) I didn't know that it came before Telugu or neither about the fact that Malayalam or Kannada is derived from it. So yeah, it was a new information for me.
- psankar 9y ago
  "Tamil is the eldest" is not a propaganda but the truth. A truth that is actively buried by the central Government of India, by spreading propaganda that Sanskrit is the oldest language and by doing things like stopping funds for excavation projects like Keezhadi to hide the truth, etc. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/keezhadi-excavation-the-story-till-now/article18464920.ece http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/keezhadi-ex...
  - btbytes 9y ago
    My comment was about the presence of culturally rich languages in India, including Tamil. You and the original commenters have made this about Tamil's antiquity. Why the low self-esteem and victim complex? This is not forum/thread for that discussion..
nerdponx 9y ago
Modern-day Greek, Hebrew, and Chinese are all very different from their "classical" versions.
akashakya 9y ago
The Tamil language currently used is not same as the one when the other Dravidian languages separated, So calling other languages 'derived' from the Tamil is not correct. All Dravidian languages have same root, so calling it 'Dravidian Language' and Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam & Telugu etc. derived from that language is more accurate and avoids the confusion

Tamil is a classical language like greek, hebrew, chinese etc. Its much older than telugu and the other Indian languages. Malayalam and kanada is derived from tamil

nagVenkat 9y ago

Calling Tamil much older than Telugu is probably not appropriate. They both developed during the same time.

swatkat 9y ago

Malayalam diverged from Tamil. But, Kannada is not a derivative of tamil.

psankar 9y ago
Of course Kannada evolved from ancient Tamil. If you know both the languages, you can easily find root words for most current day Kannada words in ancient Tamil sangam poetry (like ooru=>oor referring to town, kaaveri=>kaaviri, etc.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_languages Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam all have higher degrees of impact due to Sanskrit but they are all dravidian languages, derived from ancient Tamil.
- panglott 9y ago
  Your Wikipedia link disagrees that all of the Dravidian languages are derived from ancient Tamil. It describes them as common descendents of Proto-Dravidian. It cites the attested literature of Tamil as being 2,000 years old.

btbytes 9y ago

Ha! typical propaganda. Why are some of you Tamils are so insecure about the "antiquity" of your language. I even mentioned Tamil before my own. But, NO!! You had to come here and tell something irrelevant.

psibi 9y ago
Disclaimer: A Tamilian but doesn't know to read or write it (lived in the northern states) I didn't know that it came before Telugu or neither about the fact that Malayalam or Kannada is derived from it. So yeah, it was a new information for me.
psankar 9y ago
"Tamil is the eldest" is not a propaganda but the truth. A truth that is actively buried by the central Government of India, by spreading propaganda that Sanskrit is the oldest language and by doing things like stopping funds for excavation projects like Keezhadi to hide the truth, etc. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/keezhadi-excavation-the-story-till-now/article18464920.ece http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/keezhadi-ex...
- btbytes 9y ago
  My comment was about the presence of culturally rich languages in India, including Tamil. You and the original commenters have made this about Tamil's antiquity. Why the low self-esteem and victim complex? This is not forum/thread for that discussion..

nerdponx 9y ago

Modern-day Greek, Hebrew, and Chinese are all very different from their "classical" versions.

akashakya 9y ago

The Tamil language currently used is not same as the one when the other Dravidian languages separated, So calling other languages 'derived' from the Tamil is not correct. All Dravidian languages have same root, so calling it 'Dravidian Language' and Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam & Telugu etc. derived from that language is more accurate and avoids the confusion