# Tamil: monae, kunyi, ayya



## mosquitoe

Hi everyone, I'm reading a novel "Tiger Hills", it's a story happened in Coorg in South India, and although it's written in English, there's some words I can't find in the dictionary, I really wish to know their meanings.

e.g.

1. monae - "She is fine, they are both fine *monae*. Come in and see your pearl of a daughter."

2. kunyi - "No *kunyi*, don’t talk like that. All will be well. All will be well…"

3. ayya - "What is it *ayya*? What do you see?"



Thank you so much!


----------



## panjabigator

Hi, this doesn't look like Hindi to me.  Can anyone confirm this as Tamil?


----------



## Kirlian

Monae - I think it's Malayalam, I have some Malayalam neighbors and they use something like that... It's an affectionate term for 'little girl' I think.

Kunyi, no idea. Ayya, is a respectful term for an older man.


----------



## Au101

Well Coorg (Kodagu) is in the Indian state of Karnataka, the official language of which is Kannada. I know a little Tamil and it seems similar, but somehow not quite right, which leads me to believe that it is one of the other Dravidian languages (although I may just have an insufficient knowledge of Tamil.) Malayalam is certainly possible, but, as it's set in Kodagu, I would imagine it's most likely to be Kannada.


----------



## karikaalan91

In Coorg, most people speak a (unique to Coorg) Dravidian language, which I do not know. But, there are significant number of Malayalam speakers, as it borders Kerala. So, these words may be Malayalam.

monae - means son, in Malayalam, it's used colloquially 
ayya - is a polite term used to refer to an elder man, it is also used to refer to one's father
kunyi - I have no idea, it may even be a name


----------



## langDino

The people of Coorg speak Kodava Takk and it is one of the dravidian languages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodava_Takk

for monae and ayya, karikaalan91's explanation is good.  I too don't have any idea about "kunyi"


----------

