# Tamil: தேவதூதன்



## Au101

I was looking for the word "angel" in Tamil, and I read that "தேவதூதன்"  is the translation, however, I am not sure if this is accurate and was wondering if anybody could confirm. Thanks.


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## panjabigator

Could you transliterate that to the Roman script?


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## Au101

Yes, of course sorry. Now, there are of course many many transliteration schemes for Tamil, so:

thEvathUthan
theevathuuthan
thEvathuuthan
theavathoothan

I'm sorry but there are just so many and it's easy to get confused, but I think it sounds:

tay-va-doo-dun (although my pronunciation is really bad, so that would need confirmation)


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## palomnik

That's what my dictionary says, with one slight difference - தேவதூதர். The different spelling at the end is just an honorific difference, however.

It's interesting to note that the first half of the word comes from Sanskrit _deva, _so I guess the best transliteration is _devaduudar._


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## panjabigator

I was expecting a Sanskritic word here, but I was confused when I saw "theva" instead of "deva."  Should of known to recognize this; is this a common phonetic shift in Tamil?


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## palomnik

panjabigator said:


> I was expecting a Sanskritic word here, but I was confused when I saw "theva" instead of "deva." Should of known to recognize this; is this a common phonetic shift in Tamil?


 
Greetings, Gator!

Tamil has a lot less consonantal sounds than northern Indian languages do. The symbol த is pronounced like a dental _t _(i.e., a Hindi त) at the beginning of a word or when it's doubled in the middle of a word, like a dental _d _after an _n _in the middle of a word (i.e., a Hindi द्), and like English _th _in _this_ when it occurs alone in the middle of a word. Also, Tamil has no aspirated consonants.

As a result Tamil often can't distinguish त्, थ्, द् and ध् in borrowings from Sanskrit. One Tamil acquaintance I have is named Sandy. I wondered about that until I finally realized that her name is actually Shanti!


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## Au101

Thank you very much Palomnik, but could I just ask what you mean by "an honorific difference"? I was just wondering which one to go with, தேவதூதர் or தேவதூதன்? Thank you very much


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## palomnik

Au101 said:


> Thank you very much Palomnik, but could I just ask what you mean by "an honorific difference"? I was just wondering which one to go with, தேவதூதர் or தேவதூதன்? Thank you very much


 
தேவதூதன் is "neutral" - it might be what an angel would call him/herself, or what you might use if you were writing about angels, say, in an encyclopedia article.

தேவதூதர் is "polite" - it's how you would address an angel if you were talking to one, or you were (respectfully) referring to one.


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## Au101

Oh, I understand, thank you so much


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## doubidoo

palomnik said:


> Greetings, Gator!
> 
> Tamil has a lot less consonantal sounds than northern Indian languages do. The symbol த is pronounced like a dental _t _(i.e., a Hindi त) at the beginning of a word or when it's doubled in the middle of a word, like a dental _d _after an _n _in the middle of a word (i.e., a Hindi द्), and like English _th _in _this_ when it occurs alone in the middle of a word. Also, Tamil has no aspirated consonants.
> 
> As a result Tamil often can't distinguish त्, थ्, द् and ध् in borrowings from Sanskrit. One Tamil acquaintance I have is named Sandy. I wondered about that until I finally realized that her name is actually Shanti!



*I*'m answering a bit late.
*B*ut actually Indian *T*amils keep the Sanskrit pronunciation "normally".
*S*o you say deva instead of teva or bayam instead of payam.

*B*ut some *I*ndian *T*amil dialects and ALMOST all *S*ri *L*ankan *T*amils pronounce it "purely" in Tamil.
*S*o they say teva instead of deva and so on...

*H*owever, in *I*ndia it is better to use the Sanskrit pronunciation whereas in Sri Lanka, the Tamil one.


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