Dravidian
/dɹəˈvɪdɪən/ proper noun, noun, adjective
Forms Dravidians
- proper noun A family of related ethnicities and languages primarily in Southern India, Northeast Sri Lanka, and parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- proper noun Any of the languages of these aboriginal peoples; Dravidic.
- noun A member of any of several aboriginal peoples of India and Sri Lanka thought to have spread in India before Aryan migration.
- adjective Of or relating to the Dravidian people or language.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Sanskrit द्राविड (drāviḍa) + -ian. *tamiḻ > *damiḷ > damiḷa- / damila- and further, with the intrusive, 'hypercorrect' (or perhaps analogical) -r-, into dr(a/ā)viḍa.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Of or pertaining to the Dravida. Dravidian languages, a group of languages of Southern India, which seem to have been the idioms of the natives, before the invasion of tribes speaking Sanskrit. Of these languages, the Tamil is the most important.
Etymology [From Skr. Dravi, the name of the southern portion of the peninsula of India.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “Dravidian”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details