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**Big A** · 08-25-2006, 08:00 AM

i have a question i never know the reason for the use of (ahenam) (three dots in the form of a triangle) (the mathematical symbol for therefore)....

You mean "aaytham", yes? It's a very rare character in modern Tamil. The only common word I know of with it is aHRinai «·È¢¨½, the name for one of the two classes of nouns in Tamil grammar. It was much more common in Sangam Tamil though - you often see «·Ð and þ·Ð for "adhu" and "idhu".

If I remember my Tamil grammar correctly, the aaytham was mostly used in "thiridhal" - essentially, in certain consonant combinations, the adjacent consonants would change to become a ·. For example, «¸ø ¾¢¨½ became «·È¢¨½. We don't follow the same rules of sound change anymore - for example, ¸¼ø ¾¢¨Ã becomes ¸¼üÈ¢¨Ã not ¸¼·È¢¨Ã so the letter basically isn't used much, except in technical words which have survived unchanged since sangam Tamil.

My grandfather used to insist that on a proper reading of the Tolkappiyam, the letter should be pronounced almost like the German 'ch', but in Tamilakam, at least, I've mostly heard it being pronounced like a 'k'. I'm not sure how it's pronounced in Yalppana tamil, but I expect it's the same.

08-25-2006, 08:00 AM	#31
Big A Join Date Oct 2005 Age 50 Posts 4,148 Administrator	i have a question i never know the reason for the use of (ahenam) (three dots in the form of a triangle) (the mathematical symbol for therefore).... You mean "aaytham", yes? It's a very rare character in modern Tamil. The only common word I know of with it is aHRinai «·È¢¨½, the name for one of the two classes of nouns in Tamil grammar. It was much more common in Sangam Tamil though - you often see «·Ð and þ·Ð for "adhu" and "idhu". If I remember my Tamil grammar correctly, the aaytham was mostly used in "thiridhal" - essentially, in certain consonant combinations, the adjacent consonants would change to become a ·. For example, «¸ø ¾¢¨½ became «·È¢¨½. We don't follow the same rules of sound change anymore - for example, ¸¼ø ¾¢¨Ã becomes ¸¼üÈ¢¨Ã not ¸¼·È¢¨Ã so the letter basically isn't used much, except in technical words which have survived unchanged since sangam Tamil. My grandfather used to insist that on a proper reading of the Tolkappiyam, the letter should be pronounced almost like the German 'ch', but in Tamilakam, at least, I've mostly heard it being pronounced like a 'k'. I'm not sure how it's pronounced in Yalppana tamil, but I expect it's the same.
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