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In French, the word malabar is used to designate a man who is physically strong and well built, a muscle man, so to speak. This word has been transmitted to us French through the sailors, because in its primary meaning, a malabar is a docker, whom the western sailors have come across in the Easten harbours and who originates from the Malabar coast in India. This region belongs to the Indian State of Kerala, and derives its name from the malayalam മലബാര് /malabār/, itself derived from the ethnonym /malay/ meaning « inhabitant of Kerala ; one who speaks malayalam ».
In French, the word malabar is used to designate a man who is physically strong and well built, a muscle man, so to speak. This word has been transmitted to us French through the sailors, because in its primary meaning, a malabar is a docker, whom the western sailors have come across in the Easten harbours and who originates from the Malabar coast in India. This region belongs to the Indian State of Kerala, and derives its name from the malayalam മലബാര് /malabār/, itself derived from the ethnonym /malay/ meaning « inhabitant of Kerala ; one who speaks malayalam ».
But the very root
of this word comes from the proto-dravidian word
/*màl/ ( മല /mala/
in malayalam, மலை /malay/
in tamil...) meaning « mountain, hill »,
since the state of Kerala is delimited by the sea on one side and by a hilly area
on the other, which serves as a natural
border.
The words Malaysia and Malaysian could as well be
derived from the dravidian « mala », although another hypothesis
states the name of the Melayu river
located on the nearby island of Sumatra as a more probable origin.
The second part
of the word malabar probably
originates from the arabic
برّ /barr/ « land, country », which is used in
other toponyms, as is the case for Zanzibar whose persian name زنگبار /zangibār/ comes from the arabic
زنجبرّ /zanjbar/ meaning « the land of the blacks (زنج /zanj/)».
Moreover, the
Spanish word barrio « slum » was borrowed from the arabic
برّيّة /barriyat/ « open land».
Actually Malayalam is the name of the Language or Name of the land .It can be Tamil origin .In Tamil Mala means hill and aal means people....So as per Tamilians the Malayalam is the people from the land where they see Hills...actually west side of Tamil naadu is western Ghats and after that between the Arabian sea located is the land malayalam or Kerala.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the precision Vipin. As we say in french, you're a malabar...
DeleteIn sanskrit 'malla' means a man with a strong body.
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ReplyDelete'Bar' in Arabic means 'Coast'
ReplyDelete'Zang' in same, means 'Rusty' signifying colour red.
Hence Zanzibar! With its red soil coastline.
'Malabar' also comes from arabic, Coast of the Mala/ Malay people.
ReplyDeleteRemember, the Arabs with their dhows have been trading with east coast Africa, West Coast India etc, somewhat 500 years before the first modern day European came by, Vasco da Gama:)
'Bar' in Arabic means 'Coast'
ReplyDelete'Zang' in same, means 'Rusty' signifying colour red.
Hence Zanzibar! With its red soil coastline.
Bar in arabic is Land , Mal is wealth,Zanzi is black
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know where the surname Mallabar originates? Some seem to presume it's of old French origin and translates as 'the bad coast' and presumably once referred to an area of mainland France. There are many variant spellings recorded in England, these include Mallober, Malabar, Mallabar, Malebor, Mallaber, Malvee, Mallvois, Malvrey, and Melvoire, all are from the Huguenot period. Anyone know if this is true?
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