Lexic.us

Definition of Dravidian

1. Noun. A member of one of the aboriginal races of India (pushed south by Caucasians and now mixed with them).

2. Noun. A large family of languages spoken in south and central India and Sri Lanka.

Definition of Dravidian

1. a. Of or pertaining to the Dravida.

Definition of Dravidian

1. Proper noun. A family of related ethnicities and languages primarily in Southern India, Northeast Sri Lanka, and parts of Pakistan, and Bangladesh. ¹

2. Proper noun. Any of the languages of these aboriginal peoples; Dravidic. ¹

3. Noun. A member of any of several aboriginal peoples of India and Sri Lanka thought to have spread in India before and after Aryan migration. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Dravidian

1. Of or pertaining to the Dravida. Dravidian languages, a group of languages of Southern India, which seem to have been the idioms of the natives, before the invasion of tribes speaking Sanskrit. Of these languages, the Tamil is the most important. Origin: From Skr. Dravia, the name of the southern portion of the peninsula of India. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Dravidian

draughtsmanly draughtsmanship draughtsmen draughtspeople draughtsperson draughtspersons draughtswoman draughtswomen draughty draunt

draunted draunting draunts drave dravida dravidian dravite draw draw-bridge draw-sheet

draw-well draw a bath draw a bead on draw a blank draw a line draw a line in the sand draw and quarter draw attention draw away draw back

Literary usage of Dravidian

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Imperial Gazetteer of India by William Wilson Hunter (1886)
"The great body of Dravidian speech in the south seems, however, to have had its origin, equally with the Aryan languages, to the north-west of the Himalayas ..."

2. Toda Grammar and Texts by Murray Barnson Emeneau (1984)
"Kolami, a Dravidian Language, University of California Publications in Linguistics 12 ... Dravidian Borrowings from Indo-Aryan, University of California ..."

3. Beyond Price: Pearls and Pearl-fishing : Origins to the Age of Discoveries by R. A. Donkin (1998)
"The adoption of a Dravidian name for the pearl implies early and persistent ... 60) might be explained by the presence of Dravidian merchants in northern ..."

4. The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal by Stephen Denison Peet (1904)
"Dravidian ELEMENT AMONG THE BATAKS. According to Professor H. Kern, the eminent Dutch Orientalist, certain Dravidian ethnic names occur among the ..."

5. History of Indian and Eastern Architecture by James Fergusson (1899)
"It wants, however, the compactness and strongly-marked individuality of the Dravidian, and never was developed with that exuberance which characterised the ..."

6. Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth by Arthur Coke Burnell (1878)
"It is, therefore, almost certain that the three great Dravidian languages ... The Dravidian languages naturally separate into two classes—the Telugu which ..."

7. The Science of Language: Linguistics, Philology, Etymology by Abel Hovelacque (1877)
"In his important work on the Dravidian tongues, Caldwell divides them into two groups, according as they are cultivated or not. The first consists of six ..."

Other Resources: