Thursday, May 14, 2020

Today's Tamil word- 14th May 2020 - அகவை

Age - வயது

Original Tamil word: அகவை, பிராயம்

The words வயசு/வயது comes from the Sanskrit word for age 'vayas' (வயஸ்).

அகவை = அகம் + வை

அகம் = உள் (within/inside) and வை = வைக்கப்படுதல்; from அகவை comes the word  அகப்பட்ட which means something that is held by/captured within;

So, in Tamil, அகவை means to convey  காலத்தால் அகப்பட்டுக்கொண்டிருபது - (being held/captured by time). How appropriate is this word for 'age'! As it is, time cannot be controlled; time only has the control of our lives. We live differently at different ages of our life, thereby we are bound by time.

If you had read the popular novel of Kalki பொன்னியின் செல்வம், பிராயம் is a word that you would have came across very often. It literally means நிலை (state). So it is used along with a qualifying adjective - e.g. இளம் பிராயம்/வளரும் பிராயம்.


அண. நாகப்பன்



No comments:

Post a Comment