PREFACE.
the sources for this kind of information I would particularly point
out the old Tellicherry Records (TR.) as conveying a mass of instruc-
tion in the best prose of the language.
5. The object being to present a faithful picture of the whole
Malayālam 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 investi-
gation and treatment, which belong to words, whose birthright and
position in the language are indisputable. (See for Ar. അള്ള, അമാ
നം അമീർ, അമ്പർ, അലുവ; for P. അങ്കാമി, അജിമാശി; for H. അമാർ,
അമൽ, അമ്പാരി; 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. അം
സരം, അനുവാസം under അവസരം, അനുവാദം). To discard coarse and
even obscene modes of speech, has not been thought advisable, how-
ever much their existence and currency may be regretted. They are
marked "obsc.", as was 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 (e.g. അഞ്ഞാറ്); sometimes the unimportance of the
word, as in the case of provincialisms, prevented him from prosecut-
ing his search to the end.
8. The arrangement chosen has been, to point out as far as possi-
ble 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
