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[renuka]

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I sorta take the opposite view, since languages are primitive to begin with and become more complex with time. Therefore, Tamil came first, Sanskrit followed.

With regards to Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, all of them were the same as Tamil at first, then became dialects of one language, and slowly crystallized into their own languages.

IMHO!

Dear Dr Barani,

You see Tamil is not easy to speak, Sanskrit is much easier to pronounce esp with Sandhi rules which are easy on the tongue which doesnt require much change of position of the tongue during speaking.

So can you elaborate on that Doc?

 

[renuka]

I also want to ask you a few questions on why Modern Tamil decided to drop some alphabets from the Grantha Lipi.

 

[DrBarani]

Dear Dr Barani,

You see Tamil is not easy to speak, Sanskrit is much easier to pronounce esp with Sandhi rules which are easy on the tongue which doesnt require much change of position of the tongue during speaking.

So can you elaborate on that Doc?

Unfortunately my sanskrit skills are rather poor and I am unable to make phonetic comparisons.

Ease of language per se, Mandarin might be easier - it has no past/present/future tenses! (tense is conveyed by raising or lowering the emphasis on a syllable). However, the number of chinese characters that represent Mandarin soundbytes are several thousands...

I am not saying my theory is perfect, but as science has it, everything started in a small way to begin with (like yeast) and went to to evolve more complex (like humans). Hence, I tend to call simpler languages are older than more complex ones (complex meaning ability to communicate more information by more letters and sounds).

In future I promise to read more about the origin of languages.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

In Set Theory in Mathematics, we use circles of different sizes to

denote pictorially the common portions of different things and those

which are not common and separate.

So if we draw circles to denote the different regional languages of

India, all of them will have common sections with the one big

circle called the Sanskrit - while the common portions among the

other languages themselves will be very very small in area.

So the most logical explanation is that Sanskrit is the original mother

language from which the various regional languages have emerged

since they have very few common words among themselves but

share thousands of words with Sanskrit.

Being a Tamil I too WISH that I could say that all the languages

have emerged from Tamil but it will be false statement !

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Unfortunately my sanskrit skills are rather poor and I am unable to make phonetic comparisons.

Ease of language per se, Mandarin might be easier - it has no past/present/future tenses! (tense is conveyed by raising or lowering the emphasis on a syllable). However, the number of chinese characters that represent Mandarin soundbytes are several thousands...

I am not saying my theory is perfect, but as science has it, everything started in a small way to begin with (like yeast) and went to to evolve more complex (like humans). Hence, I tend to call simpler languages are older than more complex ones (complex meaning ability to communicate more information by more letters and sounds).

In future I promise to read more about the origin of languages.

dear Sir,

Your theory that complex things and lives evolve from simpler ones,

may be true of the evolution of lives and the higher generation of

technical products. Personally I feel that languages, arts, music are

deteriorating with the passage of time.

Anaikkatti Ahsram's swamiji said jokingly in one of his discourses,

"To be able to enjoy the Carnatic classical music, a person needs

INFRASTRUCTURE and basic knowledge about music. To enjoy the

pop music of toady all you need is five limbs- one head, two hands

and two legs!"

Who can write poems like Kamban now?

Who can sing like Tansen now?

The languages are going to the dogs after the thing called S.M.S came

into existence. Very soon no one will be knowing the correct spelling

for any word. Good thing that the English Dictionary is installed in

Computers. Otherwise no one will be able to express in faultless

language what they want to say.

The evolution seems to work both ways- forwards in Nature and

Technology and backwards in human talents and tastes!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 72. Serendipity .

Serendipity denotes the happy knack of lucky discoveries. It means finding one thing while looking for another!

In 1722, a fairy tale called The Travels and Adventures of Three Princes of Serendip was translated to English.

In this story, the heroes are constantly making new discoveries by accident. Serendip denoted Ceylon-now known as Sri Lanka.

The English writer Horace Walpole coined this word to describe the Princes' lucky and happy knack.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Dear VR Ji,

I read another version before which stated that the word School has its origins from the Sanskrit word Rishikul.

Dear Renu,

I feel that the Greek word Schole resembles the English word

School in sound and spelling closer than Rishikul or Gururkul!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

I think ROBOT came from ROOPA, which means "Personification/ shapeling/ look alike". And of course ROOPA came from Roopam /Swaroopam etc and must have originated in Tamil!

I am a strong believer that everything originated in Tamil!

Dear Sir,

Roopam, swaroopam are just forms-not necessarily those of servants or slaves.

But robotnik is a slave who has to work like a machine- whether he is in good health or is sick, whether he is hungry or thirsty or sleepy or tired.

So in my opinion the word 'robot' is more appropriate with mechanical men than the word 'roopam' which can be any vague form!

with warm regards,
Mrs. V.R.

P.S.
My second daughter's (in law's) name is Roopa and she is from Bangalore!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 73. Silhouette.

Etienne de Silhouette became the Finance minister of France in the mid 18th century.

His policies were so unpopular that he was replaced within a year. He retired.

He used the same tightfisted tactics in decorating his home. He used a cheap black cut outs for the decorations instead of the conventional paintings.

He started making extra income by making portraits with the same technique. As luck would have it, this caught on well with people.

Soon the black profile portrait became a craze that spread to England. The name of the tightfisted Silhouette became part of English vocabulary!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

[FONT=comic sans ms,sans-serif]# 74. Silly.

The German word Selig means Holy.Over the years the word came to mean

selig => innocent=> rustic=> plain=> simple => simple hearted =>frail => weak=> foolish.

Wow! What a long chain of associations of ideas!
[/FONT]

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

[FONT=comic sans ms,sans-serif]# 75. Spinster.

Girls awaiting marriage would spend all their free time in spinning threads to make household linen for their wedding trousseau.

The girls who were not lucky enough to find a husband spent their entire lives in spinning and waiting.

Hence the name Spinster for unmarried old ladies.
[/FONT]

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

[FONT=comic sans ms,sans-serif]# 76. Teetotal.
A New York temperance society demanded that all the members who sign a pledge against alcohol should write the letter T against their names.
T meant Total abstinence.
Those people were called T total or Teetotal[/FONT]

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 77. Thug.

Thug is a violent criminal. In the early days of the
British rule in India, and long before that travelers died in the hands of Thags- the member of a macabre religious cult.

The victims were strangled in a ritual form of murder Thagi.Their bones were broken to enable their burial in smaller graves.

By the mid 19th century, a British campaign wiped out the cult completely. But the Anglicized name lives on.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 78. TIP

In the 18th century English Coffee houses wanted the customers to drop coins into the boxes bearing the words

To Insure Promptness.

Later only the initials were used as TIP
A new word was born for gratuity.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 79. Trivial.

In ancient Rome, serious business was carried out at the Forum, the main market place.

But the gossipers gathered at a cross road The Tri-Via or three streets.

The word came to denote the idle stories exchanged there.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

[FONT=comic sans ms,sans-serif]# 80. Wedding.
To wed means to wager.
Marriage is a gamble! So cynics are right in comparing the wedding to a lottery.
In old English weding means to pledge money in a bet, or pledge oneself in a marriage.
Winning or losing in a lottery depends on one's luck.
Getting a good spouse depends on a person's luck.
Wedding and Gambling indeed are very much alike!.
[/FONT]

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Don't be afraid to be alone! It is the ONLY time God can speak with you! :ear: :angel:

Don't be afraid to be alone! It is the only time creative energy emerges undisturbed and you can create/ draw/ write/ do things well.:typing:

Many famous books have been either written or launched while their authors were in prison . So we will see about a few famous works and their authors in this
Sentences vs Sentences!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 1. Miguel de Cervantes.

This Spanish dramatist and novelist began his famous comic novel Don Quixote published in 1605, in Seville prison, after he was jailed for debt in 1597.

Cervantes uses the theme of the idealistic, insane knight and the devoted, down to earth squire to portray many complex themes through a series of unforgettable incidents -both tragic and comic- as a mixture of various tones.

The book is unsurpassed as a masterpiece of humour, a scintillating portrait of 16th century Spanish society made all the more beautiful by the fantastic prose style.

Cervantes started the novel in order to parody the many romances of chivalry which were circulating in those times and which the Church was unsuccessfully trying to check, but the hero got the better of him.

The result is the unforgettable character of Don Quixote, "so conspicuous and void of difficulty that children may handle him, youths may read him, men may understand him and old men may celebrate him"

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 2. Sir Walter Raleigh

This English Courtier, explorer, poet, historian was sentenced to death in 1603 for treason against King James I.

He was reprieved but not pardoned at the last moment. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He wrote his History of the World. This unfinished work appeared in 1614, while he was still in prison.

He was released on parole in 1616 to lead an expedition to find gold in South America. He had to return empty handed after his men clashed with the Spanish troops.

On his return to London he was arrested again on the earlier treason charges. He was executed in 1618.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 3. John Bunyan.

This English writer and preacher was jailed in 1675 for his non-conformist religious preachings. During his six months in Bedford County jail, he wrote much of his religious allegory Pilgrim's Progress. It was published in two parts in 1678 and 1684.

He began the work in his first period of imprisonment, and probably finished it during the second. The earliest edition in which the two parts combined in one volume came in 1728.

A third part falsely attributed to Bunyan appeared in 1693, and was reprinted as late as 1852. Its full title is The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come.

The Pilgrim's Progress is one of the most widely known allegories ever written, and has been extensively translated. It is the first thing after The Bible- according to the Protestant missionaries.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 4. John Cleland

This writer was put in New gate prison in London for debt in 1749. While in jail, a publisher named Drybutter offered him twenty guineas for writing a licentious novel.

He produced Fanny Hill or "The Memoirs of a woman of pleasure" in 1750. This book is an erotic novel. It is considered as the First original English pornography and the first pornography to use the form of the novel.

One of the most prosecuted and banned books in history,it has become a synonym for obscenity.

As sure as the fact SEX always sells, the money he earned through this novel was enough to secure his release.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 5. Voltaire.

François-Marie Arouet (November 1694 – 30 May 1778), better known by the pen name Voltaire was a French philosopher, writer, historian and famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, freedom of religion, and free trade.

Voltaire produced works in almost every literary form including plays, poetry, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets.

He was an open supporter of social reforms-despite strict censorship laws and harsh penalties for those who broke them. He made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma and the French institutions of his day.

This French satirist was jailed in 1717, for writing poems ridiculing The Duke of Orleans- the dissolute regent of France. During his 11 months in Bastille, Paris, Voltaire started to work on his epic poem La Henriade- an attack on religious fanaticism and political intrigue.

Most of Voltaire's early life revolved around Paris. From early on, Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for even mild critiques of the government and religious intolerance. These activities were to result in numerous imprisonments and exiles.

One satirical verse about the Regent thought to be by him led to his imprisonment in the Bastille for eleven months, until the real author came forward. While there, he wrote his debut play and its success established his reputation.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 6. O Henry.(William Sydney Porter)

This American short story writer famous for his unexpected twists in his stories, served 3 years and 3 months in the Federal Penitentiary in Columbus- Ohio.

The crime committed by him was embezzling funds while he had been the Teller with The First National Bank.He wrote some of his best stories in his cell-including the collection The Gentle Grafter.

Porter was found guilty of embezzlement, sentenced to five years jail, and imprisoned April 25, 1898 at the Ohio State Penitentiary. He was released on July 24, 1901 for good behavior after serving three years.

Porter published at least 12 stories while in prison to help support his daughter. Not wanting his readers to know he was in jail, he started using the pen name "O. Henry".

It is believed that Porter got this name from one of the guards who was named Orrin Henry. Other sources say that the name was derived from his calling "Oh Henry!" after the family cat, Henry.

Porter also used a number of other nom de plume, most notably James L. Bliss, and continued using pen names full-time when he took a writing contract for Ainslee's Magazine in New York City shortly after his release from prison.

Eventually, "O. Henry" became the name that became most recognized by magazine editors and the reading public, and therefore lead to the greatest fees for story sales.

Accordingly, after about 1903 Porter used the "O. Henry" byline exclusively.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 7. Bertrand Russel.

This British Philosopher and Mathematician was jailed for six months in London during the World War I, for his Pacifist writings.

During his confinement he wrote An Introduction To Mathematical Philosophy-which included a simpler account of his classic work Principia Mathematica (which had been written by him along with the British Mathematician A.E. Whitehead).

Although elected in 1908 to the Royal Society, Russell was convicted and fined for anti-war activities. He was dismissed from the Trinity College as a result of the conviction.

Two years later Russell was convicted a second time. This time he spent six months in prison. It was while in prison that he wrote his well-received Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919).

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 8. Adolf Hitler.

This Nazi leader wrote the first part of his autobiography
Mein Kampf while in Jail.

After an unsuccessful attempt to seize power in 1923, he was jailed for 9 months in Landsberg Fortress. While there he dictated the first part of his autobiography to his disciple Rudolf Hess.

Mein Kampf (My Struggle or My Battle) is a book which combines elements of Hitler's autobiography and his political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926.

Hitler began the dictation of the book while imprisoned for what he considered to be "political crimes" in November 1923. Though

Hitler received many visitors earlier on, he soon devoted himself entirely to the book.

As he continued, Hitler realized that it would have to be a two-volume work, with the first volume scheduled for release in early 1925.

Landsberg prison governor noted at the time that "He [Hitler] hopes the book will run into many editions, thus enabling him to fulfill his financial obligations and to defray the expenses incurred at the time of his trial."