Tamil words in English

[Dominique.Thillaud]

>>I am sure it is a Tamil loanword appearing not only in English but also in
>>other European languages (e.g. Czech ryze via Greek oryza).

        'a' --> Gr. 'o' is incredible.
        We know in ancient Greek two words for the rice:
o'ruza is considered as borrowed from eastern iranian (see afgan vriZE)
ori'ndEs is considered as borrowed from western iranian (see persan birinj)
(for "wr" --> Gr. "or", see Schwyzer, Gr.Gr. 1,313, n.2)
        Both are probably related to the vedic vrIhi'.
        The first greek word give Latin oryza --> Italian rizo and all
other western names.
        A long time before the Indo-Portuguese ...
        It's highly probable that vriZE, birinj, vrIhi are not Eurindian
but loan words (rice is an eastern plant), nevertheless a link with Tamil
arici seems phonetically curious.
        Regards,
Dominique

Dominique THILLAUD
Universite' de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France