Lingua Malabar Tamul

Lingua Malabar Tamul or simply Malabar Tamil is a variant of the Tamil language^[1] promoted by European Missionaries in southern parts of Kerala state like Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts before they started promoting Malayalam language among newly converted Christians.^[2] Malabar Tamil differs significantly from standard Tamil in its selection of vocabulary. Initially Malabar Tamil was printed using Roman script.^[3] Later on, printing using Tamil script became widespread.^[4]

Etymology

The word Malabar is derived from the words "mala-bar". Malai in Tamil means "hill". Bar in Persian/Arabic means "country" or "nation".^[5][6]

Gallery

• 
  Doctrina Christam/Thambiran vanakkam (printed in 1578)
• 
  Flos Santorum/Kirisithiani Vanakkam (printed in 1579)
• 
  Cartilha, Germano Galhadro printed in Lisbon on 11 Feb 1554

See also

• Thambiran Vanakkam
• Printing in Tamil language
• Henrique Henriques