CHENNAI: A verse from ancient Tamil devotional treatise Thiruvachakam by saint poet Manickavachakar adores the Almighty as ‘‘munnai pazhamporutkum munnai pazham poruzhae (You are oldest of the old and newest of the new)’’ and it applies to the Tamil language also. At a time when the ancient languages of the world are out of use, Tamil continues to be in vogue and one of the reasons might be its adaptability to the modern trends in terms of vocabulary, prose style and even in diction to a great extent.
It is well known that Tamil scholars across the globe who profess ‘pure Tamil’, have been working on coining new Tamil words to technical terms from other languages and they just don’t accept the transliterated forms from other languages.
Individual efforts to add new technical words with regard to science, commerce, information technology, names of articles used in daily life are going on while Tamil Nadu government is updating the ancient language by adding new words.
“To keep pace with the scientific and technical advancements and the growing demand for Tamil equivalents for words from other languages, mostly English, the Tamil Development Department has coined and standardised Tamil equivalents to around 1,000 words in the past few years”, a senior government official says.
A 11-member Word Bank, comprising Tamil scholars, senior journalists, poets, retired professors meets periodically to discuss the equivalents of new words coined and standardises the use of some words that came into usage already so that the Tamil equivalents get the ‘seal of approval’ from the government. The words thus coined are added to the Administrative Glossary of the State government. This glossary is used in all government departments so that the officials use them in their everyday communication
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has been encouraging such efforts. She set an example in 2003 when she coined the word Kudimagal as a feminine equivalent of Kudimagan (citizen). Since May 2011, the members of this bank met 66 times to discuss new coinages and to check the correctness of the equivalents already coined. The new words are also sent to the media for use and feedback.