language to have no native name until one was given to it by Aryans, especially when it was the mother tongue of a tolerably civilised race which had a fairly cultivated literature and which had commercial relationship with the ancient nations of the West ? He derives Tamil from the root Tami (sud) lonely, and believes that Tamil means the 'peerless' language. In the Pingalandai it is explained thus :-
இனிமையும் நீர்மையுந் தமிழெனலாகும்.
(Tamil means sweetness and mercy).
We find tamil used only once in the sense of 'sweetness' in Tamil literature, and that was by the author of Chintamani (about A. D. 950); but we do not see it used in this sense in the earlier Tamil works. Of course the expressions தீந்தமிழ் (the sweet-), கொழுந்தமிழ் (the fat-), தேனுறை தமிழ் (the honeyed-) and தண்டமிழ் (the cool-Tamil) very often occur ; but the word Tamil is not by itself used in this sense except in the solitary instance above noted. However, following the Pingalandai, the author of the Dravida Prakasika and a few other Indian scholars explain Tamil as meaning the sweet language. This connotation of sweetness seems to have long lingered among Tamil writers, for the royal author of Naishadam speaks of his heroine as one the sweetness of whose speech was Sweeter than Tamil, தமிழினு மினியதீஞ் சொற்றையலாள். Mr. Kanakasabhai thinks it to be an abbreviated form of Tamra-litti, but this etymology seems to be rather fanciful. It may not perhaps be rash to suggest here what appears to be a reasonable
