PREFACE.
nam, and the versions of the Purānas were composed within the two
or three last centuries. As these constitute the popular literature of
all Malayālam readers, no Dravidian word found in them has been
excluded. On the other hand there are many Malayālam composi-
tions of later date, especially such as are current among the Vēdāntists,
which evidently affect Tamil modes of expression. These have been
excluded if not supported by other evidence.
3. To determine the amount of Sanscrit words to be received
into a Malayalam Dictionary has been a task of even greater difficulty.
As this Dictionary is not intended for the use of Sanscrit students, the
rule followed in compiling it has been to include only those words
and meanings that were found in bonâfide Malayālam productions; to
sift and reduce the enormous mass of mythological and botanical names
and synonyms, many of which are confessedly very doubtful; to record
merely the principal signification of words confined to poetical usage;
and to devote particular attention only to those terms which are gene-
rally accepted as fairly "domiciled" in Malayālam and which have
in the course of naturalization received various applications not to
be met with in pure Sanscrit (e. g. അന്യായം, അവസരം).
4. The idioms and significations peculiar to Southern Kerala or
Travancore, have been carefully collected both from the productions
of the Cottayam Press, and from the very valuable Dictionaries com-
piled by the Portuguese and Italian Missionaries of Verapoli; works
which, although completed in 1746, rest upon materials accumulated
in the 17th, perhaps even 16th century, and rank as the oldest monu-
ment extant of the study of Indian languages by Europeans. (They
are marked in the Dictionary V1. & V2.). Still greater care has been
bestowed upon the language of Northern Kerala or Malabar proper
(with the Bēkal Talook of Canara); and explanations of the histori-
cal names, castes and dynasties (comp. അകത്തൂടു, അടിയോടി, അമ്മാമൻ,
അല്ലൂർ, അവരോധം, അസ്ഥിക്കുറെച്ചി) and of the institutions, usages
and traditions, by which this province differs so singularly from the
surrounding countries (see for instance, അങ്കം, അടിമ, അനുഭവം, അപ
രാധം) have been drawn from every trustworthy source. Amongst
