Malayalam
(mæləˈjɑːləm)
Also 9 Malayalma, Malayalim.
[Native name; cf. next.]
A Dravidian language, closely related to Tamil, spoken in southern India. Also attrib. or as adj.
| 1837 H. Harkness Anc. & Mod. Alphabets Pop. Hindu Lang. p. i, Under the head of Malayalma are also included the Characters of..Tuluva. 1839 F. Spring (title) Outlines of a grammar of the Malayalim language. 1864 A. J. Arbuthnot (title) Malayalam selections. 1902 [see Dravidian A. adj.]. 1908 T. G. Tucker Introd. Nat. Hist. Lang. 136 Malayālam, occupying a comparatively small area of the west or Malabar coast south of Mangalore. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 466/1 Malayalam, a language of the Dravidian family, spoken on the west coast of southern India. 1960 Universe 14 Apr. 24/2 Malayalam, a vernacular language of Southern India, was used for the first time as the liturgical language in an ordination in the Syro-Malabar rite at Ernakulam. 1971 Leader (Durban) 7 May 8/4 He wrote in Malayalam, which is the mellifluous, if impossibly difficult language of Kerala... His directness and his Malayalam-accented English were always irresistible. |