Elu


Eḷu, also Hela or Helu, is a Middle Indo-Aryan language or Prakrit of the 3rd century BCE. It is ancestral to the Sinhalese and Dhivehi languages.

R. C. Childers, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, states:
The Pali scholar Thomas William Rhys Davids refers to Eḷu as "the Prakrit of Ceylon".
The Hela Havula are a modern Sri Lankan literary organization that advocate the use of Eḷu terms over Sanskritisms. Eḷu is often referred to by modern Sinhalese as amisra, Sinhalese for "unmixed".
A feature of Eḷu is its preference for short vowels, loss of aspiration and the reduction of compound consonants found frequently in other Prakrits such as Pali.

Eḷu in comparison with Pali and Sanskrit

Being a Prakrit, Eḷu is closely related to other Prakrits such as Pali. Indeed, a very large proportion of Eḷu word-stems are identical in form to Pali. The connections were sufficiently well known that technical terms from Pali and Sanskrit were easily converted into Eḷu by a set of conventional phonological transformations. Because of the prevalence of these transformations, it is not always possible to tell whether a given Eḷu word is a part of the old Prakrit lexicon, or a transformed borrowing from Sanskrit.

Vowels and diphthongs

At the beginning of a word only a single consonant can remain
In the middle of a word no group may exceed one consonant
EluSanskritPaliEnglish
äsaakṣiakkhieye
adaraādararespect
agaagraaggaend, chief, principal
ahasaākāśaākāsasky
akosaākrōśaakkosainsult, abuse
akmanaākramanaakkamanaattack
aksumaakṣamaintolerance, impatience
akuraakṣaraakkharaletter of the alphabet
anadaānandaānandabliss
arutaarthaatthameaning
asunaāsanaāsanaseat
atahastahattahand
atunaantraantaintestine
bambubrahmabrahmaBrahma
bamburābarbarabarbarian
bamunābrāhmaṇababhanaBrahman
basabhāsālanguage
bimabhūmibhūmiland
bubulabudbudabubbulabubble
bodunabhōjanabhojanafood
bodubauddhabauddhaBuddhist
bōsatbōdhisattvabōdhisattaBodhisattva
dahama, damdharmadhammaDharma
datadantadantatooth
dälajālajālaNet
devoladevālayadevālayatemple
diga, digudīrghadīgha
divajihvājivhātongue
diviyajīvitajīvitalife
dudana, dujanadurjanadujjanawicked, malicious
dujanādurjanayāwicked person
dukataduṣkṛtawicked deed
dulabadurlabhadullabharare
dumadhūmadhūmasmoke
dupadhūpadhūpaincense
gamagrāmagāmavillage
gatagātragattabody
gatakuragātrākṣaraconsonant
kanakarṇakannaear
karuvākāraperson
ketakhettafield
sport
kilakīlākīlāsport
kinudark
kilukliṣṭakiliṭṭhadirty
kiluTukliṣṭakiliṭṭhadirty
kirikṣīrakhīramilk
kumarākumārakakumārason, prince
kumarikumārikumārigirl, princess
kurirukrūrakurūracruel
lakalaṅkālankaSri Lanka
lassanalakkhanabeautiful
lovalōkalōkaworld
magamārgamaggaway
magulamarriage
maturamantramantaincantation
mädamadhyama, madhyamajjhamiddle
miturāmitramittafriend
mugalanmoggallanamogallana
mudumudusoft
muwamukhamukhamouth
mäduramandiramandirapalace
mulamūlamūlaorigin
näbanābhinābhinavel
nävanaukānāvāship
nētranettaeye
nidananidhānanidhānatreasure
nimalanirmalanimmalapure
nipanaproduction
nivananibbanaNirvana
nuvaranagaranagaracity
pabalaprabalapabala:wikt:mighty|mighty
pamanapramānapamānaamount
parapuraparamparāgeneration
pänayapraśnapanhaproblem, question
pavapāpapāpasin
pavasapipāsapipāsamthirst
paranapurāṇapurānaold
parusaparuṣapharusaharsh
pasanaprasannapasannapleasant
pāsalaschool
pavarunaprakaraṇatreatise
pätumaprārthanāwish, hope
pedesapradēśacountry
pemaprēmapemalove
pidumapūjāpūjāoffering
pinapunyapunyamerit
pokunapond
posonpubba-savana
potapustakapottakabook
punpūra, pūrṇapunna
pupapupphaflower
putāputraputtason
puvapūrvapubbaformer, prior
puvatapavattinews
radarājanrājāking
rakusārakkhasademon
ratu, ratraktakarattared
räsaraśmirasmiray
räyarātrirattinight
rukavṛkṣarukkhatree
ruvarūparūpashape, form
sangamitsanghamitrasangamitta-
sandacandracandamoon
sämuniśākyamunisakyamuni
senasenaarmy
sidurachidrchiddahole, gap, space
siruraśarīrasarīrabody
soyurā, sohowurāsahōdarasodariyabrother
sondurusundarasundarabeautiful
supinasvapnasupinadream
supunsampūrṇasampunnacomplete
tedatejamagnificence
tavasātāpasahermit
tisulatriśūlaTrishula
uturauttarauttarānorth
väkiyavākyaSentence
vesakVisakhaVesak
vesesviśeṣavisesaspecial
viyaranavyākaranagrammar
yakāyakṣayakkhayaksha
yaturayantrayantamachine
yivajīvajīvalife