Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/272

250 Regarding important facts, disclosed by the records of early trade relations, some instances may be taken from the accounts of the early European traders. We learn from some Greek accounts, that the Greek people traded with the Dravidians at least as early as the 1st century A.D.; the names of ports and towns of southern India as recorded by the Greeks, distinctly show that the land of the Dravidians came then under the influence of the Aryans, for many ports and towns are found to bear names of Sanskritic origin. It is in consequence of this trade relation, that many Indian articles still bear Indian names in disguise in Western Asia and in Europe. Here are some examples: (1) The English word 'rice' comes from Greek 'oruzo' which is the phonetic representation of the Tamil word 'arici.' (2) শর্করা in early Aryan language indicated sand or sand-like things, and then very likely, in the second century B.C., it commenced to signify sugar by distinguishing itself from সিকত শর্করা (sand), and this name of the article went to Italy through the Arabs, to become the progenitor of the word sugar. (3) The English word 'tamarind' is derived from Persian Tamar-i-Hind (the sour fruit of India). (4) It is admitted by the Romans, that they got 'Ivory' from the Kaliṅga people of India, and that the word is of Indian origin; it is then certainly to be derived from ইভ (elephant)+ রদ (tooth) + ইয় (suffix), which may take the Prākṛta form ইভরিয়; this example distinctly shows, that in the second century A.D., the Telegu people used many Sanskrit derivatives in their language. (5) Along with the above examples I may mention the recent word mango which is the Portuguese form of the Dravidian word মাঙ্গাই.