# Tamil:  Uncle



## panjabigator

Is the Hindi word /maamaa/ also used for uncle in Tamil as well?  I just encountered this word in a book with a South Indian protagonist, and it just doesn't fit too well!

Thanks
PG


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## allgagne

Yes, I've heard Tamilians and Keralites use Maama for uncle.


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## Blehh.

It depends on the relation. As a heritage Tamil speaker, I use maamaa and maami with my uncles and aunts on my mother's side. (Does it carry the same usage in other Indian languages?)


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## kaverison

Tamil

To add to what's been said earlier, Tamil word maamaa is from older form - ammaaman - mother's brother; amma being mother. ammaaman > maaman > maamaa. also, ammaan. ammaami > maami, is the female form.


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## gagun

It also used in Telugu


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## kaverison

Thanks @gagun. All south indian languages belong to dravidian family of languages. I often refer to UChicago And Starling dravidian dictionaries. 
Uchicago has Sanskrit dictionaries as well, and possibly for all languages.

Starling actually has etymological dictionaries for many languages. It's very good to learn about root words, though I wish they kept  all Dravidian together, instead of spliiting it as northern and southern Dravidian. I see lot more similarities between Tamil and Telugu or Telugu and Kannada to put them in separate groups. Nonetheless,  it's a great database for students of any language.


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## gagun

Thank you for your reply and I want to give some info about pronunciation of some root words in which letters like ka and ga in Telugu are different letters but most of the times(DIFFERENT SLANGS) could be interchanged like pa or ba etc and pa in Telugu becomes ha in Kannada.


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## kaverison

Yes, same with Kannada and Tamil. PaLLi vs Halli. Though Tamil doesn't have separate letter for pa and ba or ka and ga like Telugu or Kannada does, we have the sounds that vary according to position. In thankam - Gold, it sounds like Ga. In kampam - pole, it sounds like ba. Hope to have more interesting conversation with you in this forum, about our languages.


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## gagun

sarey(sari)


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