— 174 —
Ex: níla-ańjanam (=a blue lotus), kala-v-ar̥a (=a granary-room),
mada-y-ána (= a rutting elephant), veḷichch-eṇṇa (= lamp-oil),
Krŭshṇ-áṭṭam (= the drama of Krishna).
In some cases when a vowel follows 'n' and 'm' are
not elided.
Ex: paṇayam-óla (= a palmyra cadjan), Ráman-áṭṭam (= the
drama of Ráma).*
213. Does augmentation ever occur in compound nouns?
Yes, The former member is often augmented by 'an',
'am', 'n', or 'm’.
Ex: tekkan-kár̥r̥u (=south-wind), ponn-ezhuttan-chéla (= a
cloth figured with gold), malan-puli (=a hill-tiger), panan-kula
(= a bunch of palmyra fruit), pún-tén (= the honey of flowers),
chuṇṭang-ga (= chuṇṭan-kkáy) (=the fruit of the prickly night-
shade or 'chuṇṭa').
(In these the unaugmented former-members are 'tekkŭ',
'ponn-ezhuttŭ', 'mala', 'pana', 'pú' and 'chuṇṭa' respect-
ively).
214. Can the substituted-form be used as the former
member of a compound noun?
It can, and in various ways (senses).
Ex: kúvaḷatt-ila (= a leaf of the kúvaḷam); van-káṭṭ-ána (=an
elephant of the great forest).
ár̥r̥u-veḷḷam (= iver-water); ízhad-dwípu (=the island of
Ceylon).
kizhakkin-pur̥am (=the eastern side); áṭṭin-pál (=goat's
milk.
* Such instances are rare, generally the former-member of a
compound word loses all signs of case.
