Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:
In particular, do adjectives and auxiliary nouns always come together to form a single concept, like "Chempulapeyarinar"? What about verbs, do they stay alone?
It can be combined or they can be separated. Either way it doesn't change the meaning.
Normally, they come together in poems and come separated in prose.
Didn't the language change during last 2000 years?
It has. Many of the words people use today are borrowed from foreign languages like Sanskrit, Urdu, Arabic, Telugu. And the meaning of many words has changed from its original context. But the changes are minimal when compared to other languages
When I was in school, we read one of the first Russian poems written in 12 century-- in translation, because the original is almost incomprehensible.
I have heard similar comments from my friends. Their main problem, I found is not in understanding the meaning, but in splitting the complex words into simple ones, as in the case of 'Chempulapeyarinar'. Many people won't understand what does this complex
word mean, but if you break it (Chem + pula + peyal + Neer), they can figure it out easily. With little practice, you could read & understand the old poems, as if you read & understand the modern prose. The sad thing is that, nobody wants to
[ December 01, 2004: Message edited by: Mani Ram ]