Most of the languages from Europe to India are members of the large family known as the Indo-European languages. Notable exeception to this in Europe is the Finno-Ugric family consisting mainly of Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian and Lapp languages. On the Indian front, the Dravidian family of Tamil, Teluge, Kannada and Malayalam which are the principal languages of four South Indian States, also does not belong to the Indo-European.
Finnish language has remained independent and quite distinct, in spite of the close proximity to other European neighbours. On the other side, Dravidian langauges - all except Tamil - have been heavily influenced by Sanskrit words and alphabet to an extent that some of the literary works in these languages contain more Sanskrit words than the native ones! However, it is easy to find old writings in these langauges, which do not contain a single Sanskrit word.
Nothing definite is known about the origin of Dravidian languages. Are they just native to India? In recent years, a hypothesis has been gaining ground that Dravidian speakers have probably moved from north-west to the South of Indian peninsula, a movement originating possibly as far as Central Asia. There is also general agreement that the language of Indus Valley Civilization looks like Dravidian. The presence of a Dravidian language called Brahui, isolated in Pakistan, spoken by 750,000, probably remnant of the Indus people, supports this theory.
The Dravidian languages have remained an isolated family to the present day and have defied all of the attempts to show a connection with the Indo- European tongues, Basque, Sumerian or Korean! "The most promising and plausible hypothesis is that of a linguistic relationship with the Uralic (Hungarian and Finnish) and Altaic (Turkish, Mongol) languages groups". [Encyclopædia Britannica Vol 22, Page 715 1989 Edition]. In our essay we attempt to elaborate this theory with some striking comparisons.
A number of Dravidian loanwords appear in Rigveda, the earliest known Indo-Aryan literary work in Sanskrit. In the Hebrew text of the Bible, peacock is called "tukkhiyim" probably similar to Tamil "tokai", tail of peacock. A number of words also appear in Greco-Roman sources such as Periplus maris Erythraei (AD 89). The western words for rice and ginger are cultural loans from Dravidian. (Italian riso, Latin and Greek oryza, Proto-Dravidian arici, and for ginger, German Ingwer Greek zinziberis, Old Tamil inciver meaning ver (root) if inci plant. In contrast to the words loaned during the colonial era (Copra, Cashew etc), these words are very old and appear in very old texts.
The ancestor of Finno-Ugric language called Proto-Uralic was spoken 7,000 to 10,000 years ago in the general area of the northern Ural Mountains Range.
There are some grammatical similarities between Finnish and South Indian languages. Both do not use prepositions at all. An example makes it clear. Note that Malayalam has its own alphabet, but we use Roman script here so that you can read it.
Finnish Malayalam Means Helsingissä Helsinkiyil in Helsinki Helsinkiin Helsinkiyilekku to Helsinki Helsingistä Helsinkiyilninnu from Helsinki Turkuunko? Turku-yileko? to Turku? kirjan hinta Pusthaka-thinte Vila the price of the book
The use of suffixes is not the only similarity. In the case of noun + noun constructions, the qualifying name comes first in both languages forming a single compound word. Eg: In Finnish, brick(tiili)+ house(talo) = tiilitalo. In Malayalam brick(Ishtika) + house(Veedu) = Ishtikaveedu. On the other hand, in the case of noun+name construction, where noun indicates relationship, both languages follow the same pattern. Eg: Matti setä = uncle Matti. In Malayalam it would have been Matti maman = uncle Matti.
Some words are strikingly similar and have the same or close-to meaning. This can be quite accidental, until someone can prove otherwise. Also 'sata' (=100) in Finnish means the same in almost all Indian languages! But the source of this is obviously Sanskrit satam.
Malayalam means Finnish means amma mother äiti mother emä maa mother country emä laiva mother ship nalu four neljä four vatti basket vati basin puu flower puu tree muusari foundryman muurari* mason piri screw thread piiri circle eei (colloq.) 'no' ei no tuuli blow in wind tuuli wind kudi(kudil) house koti house kayyi, kai hand, arm käsi hand, arm kol (kolluka) die, kill kuolla die, pass away ulla, olla(thu) be, exist ole to be
* Can be pure coincidence? They did not use bricks at the time of supposed contacts. Muurari comes from "muuri" which means "wall". Whereas in Malayalam Musari comes from "Musa"(=mould). Though not exactly same meaning, the formation of the final word follows a similar pattern.
If the original inhabitants of Ural mountains spoke a Proto-Uralic langauge, then it is older than any modern Indo-European langauge prevalent in Europe today (7,000 to 10,000 years). Migration from Ural Mountains happened towards North and Northern part of today Russia. But there is absolutely no evidence that Ural people ever moved towards east or southeast.
It is now widely accepted that Indus Valley Civilization was "non-Indo- European" and is generally classified as "Dravidian" or "native Indian". "It is a well-established and well-supported hypothesis that Dravidian speakers must have been spread throughout India, including the north-west region... Thus a form of proto-Dravidian, or perhaps Proto-North-Dravidian must have been extensive in north India before the advent of the Aryans." [Encyclopædia Britannica Vol 22, Page 716 1989 Edition].
"The circumstances of the advent of Dravidian speakers in India are shrouded in mystery. There are vague linguistic and cultural ties with the Urals and with the Mediterranean area". There is also speculation that original Dravidians were a mix of Mediterraneans and Armenoids who moved towards India in the 4th millenium BC. "Along their route, these immigrants may have possibly come into an intimate, prolonged contact with the Ural-altaic speakers, thus explaining the striking affinities between Dravidian and Ural-Altaic language groups."[Encyclopædia Britannica Vol 22, Page 716 1989 Edition]. During and after the fall of, Indus Valley Civilization (3000-1500 BC) there was fairly a constant movement of Dravidian speakers from the northwest to the southeast of India.
What we have discussed is something which happened or did not happen, well before the recorded history (4-5 thousand years BC). It is difficult to coin the correct terminology to depict the people or languages of that period. Any reference to current people with the same name is misleading, because of the changes, migrations and mixing happened many times in the history.
For example, today's "Dravidians" of South India are a mix of original Proto-Dravidians who migrated from North India and the Australoid people who probably were natives of Southern India or Indonesian archipelago. This "mix" was further diluted with the coming of Aryans in the Vedic period. The same can be said about the Uralic people. The current "Finns" are a blend of European and the original Uralic forefathers. According to this view, the more archaic Uralic type is preserved among the Lapps. [Encyclopædia Britannica Vol 22, Page 703 1989 Edition].
Note: The author Gopi Nathan has written this out of academic interest only. I am neither a philologist nor a linguist. Those interested in similar subject should consult internet elsewhere. One of those pages is Ural altaic language home page where you see quite a lot of information and links on Finnish, Hungarian, Uralic in general and altaic languages.
The following map is by courtesy of the above site:
Harappa Indus
Valley Page
Dravidian
Languages Ref
Glen
Gordon's Macro Eusian Page
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