Showing posts with label classical language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classical language. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Kannada in a Greek play of 2nd cent. BC??

Announcing the classical status of Kannada and Telugu, a Times of India report says, "Govind Pai proved that Kannada phrases like 'Mindeya?' ('Have you had bath?') were used in a Greek play of 2nd century BC."

'Proved', eh? The Wikipedia article on Kannada does not seem to've heard of this Greek connection.

However, Kamat's Potpourri - that fascinating "hodge-podge of Indian history, arts and culture" - does mention that the remarkable Pai identified "Kannada names from ancient Greek classics including Ptolemy".