Evolution of Malayalam script as we know today

According to Arthur Coke Burnell, one form of the Grantha alphabet, originally used in the Chola dynasty, was imported into the southwest coast of India in the 8th or 9th century, which was then modified in course of time in this secluded area, where communication with the east coast was very limited. It later evolved into Tigalari-Malayalam script and was used by the Malayali Havyaka Brahmins and Tulu Brahmin people, but was originally only applied to write Sanskrit. This script split into two: Tigalari and Malayalam. While Malayalam script was extended and modified to write vernacular language Malayalam, the Tigalari was written for Sanskrit only. In Malabar, this writing system was termed Arya-eluttu (ആര്യ എഴുത്ത്, Ārya eḻuttŭ), meaning “Arya writing” (Sanskrit is Indo-Aryan language while Malayalam is a Dravidian language).
Vatteluttu was in general use, but was not suitable for literature where many Sanskrit words were used. Like Tamil-Brahmi, it was originally used to write Tamil, and as such, did not have letters for voiced or aspirated consonants used in Sanskrit but not used in Tamil. For this reason, Vatteluttu and the Grantha alphabet were sometimes mixed, as in the Manipravalam. One of the oldest examples of the Manipravalam literature, Vaishikatantram (വൈശികതന്ത്രം, Vaiśikatantram), dates back to the 12th century, where the earliest form of the Malayalam script was used, which seems to have been systematized to some extent by the first half of the 13th century.
Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan, a poet from around the 17th century, used Arya-eluttu to write his Malayalam poems based on Classical Sanskrit literature. For a few letters missing in Arya-eluttu (ḷa, ḻa, ṟa), he used Vatteluttu. His works became unprecedentedly popular to the point that the Malayali people eventually started to call him the father of the Malayalam language, which also popularized Arya-eluttu as a script to write Malayalam. However, Grantha did not have distinctions between e and ē, and between o and ō, as it was as an alphabet to write a Sanskrit language. The Malayalam script as it is today was modified in the middle of the 19th century when Hermann Gundert invented the new vowel signs to distinguish them.
By the 19th century, old scripts like Kolezhuthu had been supplanted by Arya-eluttu – that is the current Malayalam script. Nowadays, it is widely used in the press of the Malayali population in Kerala.
Malayalam and Tigalari are sister scripts and are descendants from Grantha alphabet. Both share similar glyphic and orthographic characteristics.

സവാളയെ ആംഗലേയത്തിൽ "Onion" എന്നേ പറയുന്നുള്ളു. സ്പാനിഷ് ഭാഷയിൽ "ഉള്ളി" എന്ന് തന്നെ അർത്ഥം കല്പിക്കുന്ന "Cebolla" എന്ന പദത്തിന്നാണ് "സവാള" വന്നതെന്ന് കരുതപ്പെടുന്നു. ഇതേപോലെ, "small onion" ന്റെ യഥാർഥ പേരാണ് "Shallots", അഥവ "ചെറിയുള്ളി".

ഉരുളക്കിഴങ്ങ്, തക്കാളി, ചോളം, മുളക് ഇനങ്ങള്‍ കൂടാതെ, റബ്ബര്‍, വാനില, കൊക്കോ മുതലായ സസ്യങ്ങള്‍ ഒന്നും കേരളത്തിന്‌ ഒരുനാള്‍ സുപരിചിതം ആയിരുന്നില്ല. ഇവയെല്ലാം പതിനഞ്ചും പതിനാറും നൂറ്റാണ്ടുകള്‍ക്ക് മദ്ധ്യേ “കൊളംമ്പിയന്‍ വിനിമയം” വഴി സ്പാനിഷ്‌/പറങ്കികള്‍ ഇന്ത്യയിലേക്ക് കൊണ്ടുവന്നതാണെന്ന് ചരിത്രം രേഖപെടുത്തുന്നു. ഇങ്ങനെ വന്ന സസ്യങ്ങളുടെ തമിഴ്/മലയാള പദോത്പത്തി വിഷയങ്ങളെ കുറിച്ചുള്ള രേഖകള്‍ വളരെ വിരളമാണെങ്കിലും, മറ്റ് വസ്തുക്കളുമായുള്ള രൂപസാദൃശ്യം വച്ച് അന്നത്തെ കച്ചവടക്കാര്‍ ഇവക്കു പേരുകൊടുത്തതാവാം എന്ന് കരുതപ്പെടുന്നു.

Savāḷa onions, a larger variety of onions in the Indian state of Kerala, is often erroneously translated as "Big onion" in English at market places. In fact, the name is thought to have derived from the Spanish "Cebolla", referring to the same root vegetable. Similarly shallots are translated as "small onion" which is taken from the malayalam word "ceṟiyuḷḷi"

It must be noted that vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, corn, chilies and other plants like rubber, vanilla, cocoa etc, secretly entered India in a world even known as "Columbian Exchange" sometime between 15th and 16th century through Spanish or Portuguese traders. The etymologies concerning these vegetables in Malayāḷaṁ or Tamiḻ is poorly understood, or perhaps derived from the names of unrelated plants or objects which looked similar.

Colonial names of Indian cities

The pronunciation of Indian names was seen as too difficult for the English tongue. They were Anglicized to help with communications and administration within India. They found its way to the administration records and remained for more than two centuries up until Indian independence. Since Indian government is mostly a “carry forward” of the British administration, the Anglicized names prevailed well into the 90’s.

::HISTORY::

The Indian west coast, more importantly the Malabar Coast, already had trade relations with the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians. These occupations were never looked upon with a colonization view point. The Greeks had their own version of Indian place names which they only used for their own purposes. As the empires felled, Kerala’s trade relation with Europe was reduced to a mere gift exchange venue and most port cities eventually declined and forgotten with time. Some coastal cities like Calicut continued trading with East Africa and later, with the Arabs (which explains why the city had an Arabic name- Qaliqut)
As the law of entropy dictates, chaos only increases with time. Things took a disastrous turn when Vasco da Gama rediscovered the trade route to India in 1498. His subsequent Indian armadas, unfriendly relations with Zamorins, militaristic approach and subsequent colonization of the city of Kochi (the first of its kind in India) laid its foundation of hatred at Europeans for Indians.
Later the Dutch, French and the British followed suit, attracted by the lingering aroma of Indian spices and conflicts within India.

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