Continuing in the vein of my previous article, in which I discussed the correspondence of certain Malayalam words to the Egyptian mace hieroglyph 𓌉, in this article, I explore Malayalam’s relation to another set of Egyptian hieroglyphs: 𓇅 M13 ‘papyrus stem’, and M14 𓇆 ‘papyrus stem with cobra.’ Egyptologists consider these hieroglyphs to be a combination of three other hieroglyphs: 𓅱 G43 ‘quail chick’ [w], 𓄿 G1 ‘vulture’ [a, l], and 𓆓 I10 ‘cobra’ [ch]. Accordingly, in Old Egyptian, this hieroglyph would have been pronounced as [vach] or [velech].
These hieroglyphs seem to have evolved into two alternative sound combinations in Malayalam: one, a combination of [pa] and [ccha], and two, a combination of [va], [la] and [ccha]. That is, the first combination seems to have evolved from Egyptian pronunciation [vach] and the second from Egyptian pronunciation [velech]. Why did the first combination change its initial sound from [va] to [pa] in Malayalam whereas the second combination did not? I don’t know; your guess is as good as mine; unless you are a linguist, in which case you know the answer, and perhaps you could respond in the comments?
How did I form my conclusion about the correspondence between Malayalam and Egyptian? I compared Egyptian words having these hieroglyphs to Malayalam words with the same meaning. A pattern emerged. The Malayalam words fell into two categories, those that had the root പച്ച [paccha] and those that had roots with the combination വ [va], ള [la], and ച്ച [ccha]. Below is a listing of the words:
പച്ച [paccha] “green” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓆓𓏛 “green,”¹ 𓇆𓇆𓆰𓏥 “be green,”² 𓇅𓅱𓈓 “green pigment,”³ 𓇅𓏏𓋕 “green crown,”⁴
പച്ച [paccha] “fresh” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓆓𓏛 “fresh,”⁵ 𓇅𓇅𓇅 “fresh spices,”⁶ 𓇆𓌽 “fresh grain.”⁷
പച്ച [paccha] “plants” “vegetables” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓆰𓏥, 𓇆𓇆𓆰𓏥, 𓇆𓆓𓏏𓆰𓏥 “plants,”⁸ 𓇅 “papyrus,”⁹ 𓇆𓏏𓆰𓏪 “vegetables.”¹⁰
പച്ച [paccha] “emerald,” “green stone” correspond to Egyptian 𓇅𓅱𓈓 “green mineral,”¹¹ 𓇅𓇅𓏏𓊌 “malachite,”¹² 𓇅𓆓𓊌 “green bead.”¹³
പച്ച [paccha] “raw” as in “raw meat,” “raw fruit,” “raw fish,” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓅱𓄹𓏥 “raw meat,”¹⁴ 𓇆𓏏𓈓𓎟 “fruit,”¹⁵ 𓇅𓏲𓆟𓏥 “a fish (type of).”¹⁶
പച്ച [paccha] “uncooked” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇆𓅱𓏏𓏛𓏥 “uncooked.”¹⁷
പച്ച [paccha] “flourish” “vitality” as in പച്ചപിടിക്ക [pacchapidikka] corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓆓𓏛 “flourish.”¹⁸
പച്ച [paccha] “tender,” “young,” as in “child” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅 “child.”¹⁹
പച്ച [paccha] as in പച്ചപ്രാവു് [pacchapraavu] “a type of bird” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇆𓅬 “fowl.”²⁰
പച്ച [paccha] “candidness” “simplicity” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇆𓏛𓅱𓏭 “agreeable.”²¹
പച്ച [paccha] used in reference to “cloth” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓏏𓋳 “cloth.”²²
പച്ച [paccha] used in reference to a type of curry (പച്ചടി [pacchadi]) corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓏴𓂋𓏒 “a type of food.”²³
പച്ച [paccha] “wealth” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓆓𓏛𓀀 “fortunate.”²⁴
വെളിച്ച [veliccha] as in വെളിച്ചപ്പാട് [velicchapaadu] “a type of priest” corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓏏 “a type of priest.”²⁵
വളച്ച [valaccha] “curved” as in the shape of boats corresponds to Egyptian 𓇅𓏏 “bow of a ship.”²⁶
So, what does all this show us? That, contrary to current beliefs, Malayalam has very ancient roots that go back millennia to a land far away across the ocean. Like in the Hindu Puranic story of समुद्रमन्थन Samudra Manthana, in which the sea bestowed vast riches on those willing to work it, the Indian Ocean brought to Kerala treasures in many forms from myriad nations, one such treasure being the incalculable, immeasurable, limitless wealth of language.
Notes
1. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/600304, https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43580.
2. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43940.
3. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43910.
4. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43750.
5. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/600304.
6. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43570.
7. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43610.
8. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43600, https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43950, https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43990.
9. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43530.
10. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43700.
11. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43630.
12. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43960.
13. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43640.
14. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43920. The usage here is interesting, because it is rare to see the word for “green” used in reference to edible meat in other languages, such as English or Hindi. In fact, the Hindi word for “raw” कच्चा [kaccha] is close to Malayalam [paccha] and Egyptian [vach], but there are no other correspondences, such as to the color “green” or other usages listed here, which suggests that the Hindi similarity is mere coincidence.
15. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43710.
16. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43660.
17. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/851899.
18. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43580.
19. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43540.
20. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43650.
21. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43800.
22. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43720.
23. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43830.
24. https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/43590.
