derivation. The word Tamil may be taken as a compound of tam + izh; tam is a reflexive pronoun which has given rise to a very interesting class of words like tam-appan (father), tay or tam-ay (mother), tamaiyan (elder brother), tam.kai (younger sister), tamakkai (elder sister), tam-pi (11), tam-piran &c. ; izh (which is the root of Izhm or Izhum, Izhudu-&c.) means sweetness. Hence Tamizh or Tamil is "that which is sweet” or the sweet language.
It may be observed that this word is used in early Tamil works to denote the language, the people and their country.
That part of the Indian peninsula which the Indo-Aryans called the Dravida was known to ancient Tamils as the Tamil-akam or 'the abode of the Tamils'. The extent of this Tamil-akam was not, however, always the same. Tolkâpyar, a Tamil grammarian, probably of the fourth century B. C., llangôadigal, the royal ascetic and reputed author of Silappadikâram, and Sikandiyâr, a pupil of Agastyar and the author of a treatise on music, roughly fix the boundaries of the Tamil country, as may be seen from the following quotations :
(1) வட வேங்கடந் தென்குமரி யாயிடைத் தமிழ் கூறு நல்லு லகம்.- Tol.
(The good world of the Tamils which lies between the northern Venkatam and the southern Kumari.)
(2) நெடியோன் குன்றமுந் தொடியோள் பௌவமுந் தமிழ் வரம்பறுத்த தண்புனனாடு.-Sil
