The English word rice is borrowed from the Greek word "oruza" ((μαγειρ.) ὄρύζα) which is similar to the Tamil word அரிசி arici and telugu word Vari referring to paddy . This strongly indicates trade between ancient Greeks and ancient Indians in region of Southern India. The OED's etymological analysis, for example, is now well over a century old and the field has advanced a good bit since then. In relation to the etymology of rice, linguists in the 1920s categorically ruled out the possibility of a Tamil origin arguing, inter alia, that there was no direct contact between the South of India and the Greek-speaking world in the 4th century BC (see e.g. Jules Bloch's "Le nom du riz", printed in Etudes Asiatique, L'ecole Francaise d'extreme orient, 1925). Of late, it is well established that there were in fact significant trade links between India and Greece at that time, and several newer scholars take it for granted that the word entered Greek from Tamil (e.g. John Thorley's 1969 piece "The development of trade between the Roman Empire and the East under Augustus", printed in Greece & Rome, 16:2 at pp. 222).