Greek, Latin, Sanskrit and Tamil: The Meaning of the Word Ἐρυθρὰν in Erythraean Sea

Abstract

Ἐρυθρὰν of Greek and Erythraeos of Latin denote a portion of ocean. From the Greek word ἐρεύθων, it is thought that the sea is red in colour and so got its name, the Red Sea. There is also another thought that the name of the sea is not due to its colour, but the first person who crossed this sea was called Erythras, and so the sea is named after him. The research that has been done so far has taken into account the Greek and Persian language root to this word, but has not yet reached a final conclusion. Tamil Nadu also has a remarkable place in this connection. In the word Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν, “Ery” means “throw” both in Greek and Tamil and “thrae” means hair in Greek and “wave” in Tamil. The word “thrae” has a common meaning which is that of either a group, or in general any gathering of a small number of objects. Thus, Ἐρυθρὰν of Greek and Erythraeos of Latin has the meaning of ‘throwing ocean wave’ in Tamil. In studying the other word Περίπλους (Περί + πλους), of Περίπλους της Ερυθράς Θαλάσσης, the first part of the word, Περί, means big or long and the latter part of the word πλους, which is the metathesis of πόλεις has the meaning land or city. Thus the words Περίπλους της Ερυθράς Θαλάσσης has the meaning –“the cities or the lands of the ocean of throwing waves”. It is well known that both the Greeks and Romans had a flourishing sea trade with Tamil Nadu in the ancient period of history and there was ample possibility of words being borrowed from Tamil to Greek. Keywords: Erythraean Sea, Greek, Latin, sea trade, Tamil Nadu