Page:A Malayalam and English dictionary 1871.djvu/11

 the sources for this kind of information I would particularly point out the old Tellicherry Records (TR.) as conveying a mass of instruction in the best prose of the language.

5. The object being to present a faithful picture of the whole Malayalam tongue, the writer has not felt at liberty to exclude the foreign words which have of necessity crept into the language. The Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Portuguese and even English terms, which the commerce of centuries and the conquest of foreign creeds and arms with new laws and arts have introduced along this coast, cannot be proscribed, whatever regret their prevalence may excite in the purist. They do not, of course, claim the same minute investigation and treatment, which belong to words, whose birthright and position in the language are indisputable. (See for A. അള്ള, അമാനം, അമീർ, അമ്ബർ, അലുവ; for P. അങ്കാമി, അജിമാശി, for H. അമാർ, അമൽ, അമ്ബാരി; for Port. അനനാസ്; for E. അഫീൽ).

6. It is for the same reason, that provincialisms and vulgarisms have not been rejected, though they are pointed out as such (f.i. csfOo crofDo, (SifZ)nraQjjcroo under (Gr^("YaQJD'3o, asifsmj^o). To discard coarse and even obscene modes of speech, has not been thought advisable, however much their existence and currency may be regretted. They are marked "obsc", as w^as done by the fathers of Verapoli in their day, that they may be avoided. Under all these heads (§ 2—6) the student will of course have room for candid allowance concerning omissions and superfluities.

7. The writer has throughout endeavoured to trace the origin of each word; and particular attention has been paid to the comparison of the cognate Dravidian languages. He has not been successful in every instance (f.i. (©fcrsYc^oo); sometimes the unimportance of the word, as in the case of provincialisms, prevented him from prosecuting his search to the end.

8. The arrangement chosen has been, to point out as far as possible the root and origin of each word, to give first its primitive sense and to add the figurative and free senses in a rational order; lastly to illustrate them by examples taken from reliable authorities. The