View Message

This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

Re: meaning and correct spelling of Char amati
Unfortunately, that does not fit the context in which the original poster asked.A little bit of Google searching shows a Turkish site which claims that an actress called Shashikala acted in the role of Charamati in the 1981 Hindi film Kranti. I have not seen this film, but IMDB gives the name of the same character as Charumati. Now, this is interesting because Charumati is an Indian name from antiquity (http://tinyurl.com/2bt8hgd) and does indeed have a mythological connection, though not etymological link, to devotion (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalakshmi_Vrata).cArumatI is pronounced with an -u- as in English put, but it is short, so in rapid speech one could confuse it with the schwa -a-. The word derives from cAru, which is an old word (related forms appear in the Rigveda) and means pleasant or beautiful. This itself is formed by a suffix -ru on some verb like can/kan etc. which means to take pleasure, to be satisfied etc., though their Indoeuropean cognates seem to cluster more towards `to shine.' In any case this cAru with the suffix -mat (possesing something) means lovely, and the -I is the feminine suffix on that. So, cArumatI means a lovely lady, etymologically.
vote up1vote down

No replies