Dravidian, a. and n.
(drəˈvɪdɪən)
[f. Skr. drāvida pertaining to Draviḍa, name of a province of southern India. (See Tamil etym.)]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to a non-Aryan people found in southern India and Sri Lanka, or their languages.
| 1856 R. Caldwell Compar. Gram. Dravidian Lang. 527 This shepherd people..gradually merged in the mass of the Drâvidian race. 1871 E. Balfour Cycl. India (ed. 2) II. s.v. India 39/2 That geographical distribution of the Kol and Dravidian languages. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 419/2 The languages spoken [in the Madras Presidency]—all of the Dravidian family—are Telugu in the north-east, Tamil in the south, Malayalam in the west, and Canarese in the central plateau. 1959 [see ashram]. 1961 Burrow & Emeneau (title) A Dravidian etymological dictionary. |
B. n.
1. A member of this people or linguistic group.
| 1856 R. Caldwell Compar. Gram. Dravidian Lang. 527 The builders of the cairns had settled in India earlier than the Drâvidians. 1871 E. Balfour Cycl. India (ed. 2) II. s.v. India 42/1 The uncivilized Dravidian speaking tribes are genuine Dravidians who have in a great measure escaped the culture which the more exposed tribes have received. 1884 D. Aubrey Lett. fr. Bombay 149 Every scheme appears to have been tried to draw the Hindoo, the Iranian, the Jain, the Dravidian to Christ. 1919 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. 79/1 The Himalayas etc. divided off the Dravidians from the Mongolians. 1924 A. Huxley Little Mexican 58 Two expatriated Hindus and a couple of swarthy meridional Frenchmen, who might pass at a pinch as the Aryan compatriots of these dark Dravidians. 1928 C. Dawson Age of Gods iv. 82 The Dravidian was pictured as a mere jungle-dwelling savage. |
2. Any of the group of languages spoken by this people.
| 1856 R. Caldwell Compar. Gram. Dravidian Lang. 48 The Drâvidian vocabularies have borrowed largely from the Sanscrit... The Sanscrit, in some instances, has not disdained to borrow from the Drâvidian. 1862 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. VII. 297 We should have expected sound philological method, if anywhere, in the comparison of Dravidian and Sanskrit, considering the accessibility of the material. 1871 [see B. 1 above]. 1928, 1934 [see C below]. |
C. Comb., as Dravidian-speaking.
| 1871 [see B. 1 above]. 1928 C. Dawson Age of Gods iv. 83 The modern Dravidian-speaking Brahui. 1934 Discovery Feb. 44/1 The important distinction is that between the Aryan and Dravidian-speaking peoples, which broadly set off northern India against the south. |