Editing Malayalam (section)

== Etymology ==
In a 7th-century poem written by the Tamil poet [[Sambandar]] the people of Kerala are referred to as ''malaiyāḷar'' (mountain people).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Chevillard |first=Jean-Luc |date=2008-01-01 |title=The concept of ticai-c-col in Tamil grammatical literature and the regional diversity of Tamil classical literature |url=https://www.academia.edu/4045264}} p.12</ref> The word {{transliteration|ml|Malayalam}} is also said to originate from the words {{transliteration|ml|mala}}, meaning '[[mountain]]', and {{transliteration|ml|alam}}, meaning '[[region]]' or '-ship' (as in "township"); {{transliteration|ml|Malayalam}} thus translates directly as 'the [[mountain]] region'. The term ''[[Malabar Coast|Malabar]]'' was used as an alternative term for ''Malayalam'' in foreign trade circles to denote the southwestern coast of the Indian peninsula, which also means ''The land of hills''.<ref>{{cite book
 | author = V. Nagam Aiya | year=1906
 | title=The Travancore State Manual | publisher=Travancore Government Press
 | url= https://archive.org/details/travancorestate00aiyagoog/page/n10/mode/2up
}}</ref><ref>C. A. Innes and F. B. Evans, ''Malabar and Anjengo, volume 1'', Madras District Gazetteers (Madras: Government Press, 1915), p. 2.</ref><ref>M. T. Narayanan, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=kHtbkuXruzwC Agrarian Relations in Late Medieval Malabar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503225405/https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kHtbkuXruzwC& |date=3 May 2022 }}'' (New Delhi: Northern Book Centre, 2003), xvi–xvii.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Sreedhara Menon|first1=A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAlXPgAACAAJ&q=%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%B3+%E0%B4%9A%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A4%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%82|title=''Kerala Charitram''|date=January 2007|publisher=DC Books|isbn=9788126415885|edition=2007|location=Kottayam|access-date=19 July 2020|archive-date=13 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113141403/https://books.google.com/books?id=FAlXPgAACAAJ&q=%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%B3+%E0%B4%9A%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A4%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%82|url-status=live}}</ref> The term originally referred to the western hilly [[land]] of the [[Chera dynasty]] (later [[Zamorin]]s and the [[Kingdom of Cochin]]), [[Mushika dynasty|Kingdom of Ezhimala]] (later [[Kolathunadu]]), and [[Ay kingdom]] (later [[Travancore]]), and only later became the name of its language.<ref name="caldwell" /> The language Malayalam was alternatively called {{transliteration|ml|Alealum}}, {{transliteration|ml|Malayalani}}, {{transliteration|ml|Malayali}}, {{transliteration|ml|Malabari}}, {{transliteration|ml|Malean}}, {{transliteration|ml|Maliyad}}, {{transliteration|ml|Mallealle}}, and {{transliteration|ml|Kerala Bhasha}} until the early 19th century CE.<ref name="ethnologuecom">{{cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mal |title=Ethnologue report for language code: mal |publisher=Ethnologue.com |access-date=20 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130628195627/http://www.ethnologue.com/language/mal |archive-date=28 June 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="sreedhara menon-2007">{{cite book |last1=Sreedhara Menon |first1=A. |title=''Kerala Charitram'' |date=January 2007 |publisher=DC Books |location=Kottayam |isbn=978-81-264-1588-5 |page=27 |edition=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAlXPgAACAAJ&q=%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%B3+%E0%B4%9A%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A4%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%82 |access-date=19 July 2020 |archive-date=13 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113141403/https://books.google.com/books?id=FAlXPgAACAAJ&q=%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%B3+%E0%B4%9A%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A4%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%82 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Malabar Manual (1887), William Logan, Calicut</ref>

The earliest extant [[literary]] works in the regional [[language]] of present-day [[Kerala]] probably date back to as early as the [[12th century]]. At that time, the language was differentiated by the name ''Kerala Bhasha''. The earliest mention of Malayalam as a language is found outside of Kerala in the 15th century [[Telugu language|Telugu]] work Śrībhīmēśvarapurāṇamu by Śrīnātha.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Veluthat |first=Kesavan |date=2018|title=History and historiography in constituting a region: The case of Kerala |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2348448918759852 |journal=Studies in People's History |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=13–31 |doi=10.1177/2348448918759852 |issn=2348-4489}}</ref> The distinctive "Malayalam" named identity of this [[language]] appears to have come into existence in Kerala only around the [[16th century]], when it was known as "Malayayma" or "Malayanma"; the words were also used to refer to the [[Writing system|script]] and the [[region]].<ref name="Raghunathan 2003">{{cite book |author1=Sheldon Pollock |author2=Arvind Raghunathan Professor of South Asian Studies Sheldon Pollock |title=Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2WoC&pg=PA442 |date=19 May 2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-22821-4 |pages=441–442 |access-date=18 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226111650/https://books.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2WoC&pg=PA442 |archive-date=26 December 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Duarte Barbosa]], a Portuguese visitor who visited Kerala in the early 16th century CE, the people in the southwestern [[Malabar coast]] of India from [[Kumbla]] in north to [[Kanyakumari]] in south had a unique language, which was called "Maliama" by them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barbosa |first=Duarte |title=The Book of Duarte Barbosa: An Account of the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and their inhabitants (Volume 2) |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=1989 |isbn=9788120604513 |pages=1–7 |quote=Per Barbosa, Malabar begins at the point where the kingdom of Narasyngua or Vijayanagar ends, that is at Cumbola (Cambola) on the Chandragiri river.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Barbosa |first1=Duarte |last2=Dames |first2=Mansel Longworth |year=1918 |title=PDF.js viewer |url=https://indianculture.gov.in/libraries/pdf.js/web/viewer.html?file=https%3A%2F%2Findianculture.gov.in%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2FdigitalFilesICWeb%2Fnlirepository%2F23567%2F61%2520B%2520275%2520%2528ii%2529%252021.pdf#page=301&zoom=60,0,1344 |access-date=2022-04-24 |website=indianculture.gov.in |publisher=Asian Educational Services |pages=194–198 |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424123531/https://indianculture.gov.in/libraries/pdf.js/web/viewer.html?file=https%3A%2F%2Findianculture.gov.in%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2FdigitalFilesICWeb%2Fnlirepository%2F23567%2F61%2520B%2520275%2520%2528ii%2529%252021.pdf#page=301&zoom=60,0,1344 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Prior to this [[Early modern period|period]], the people of Kerala usually referred to their language as "Tamil", and both terms overlapped into the [[British Raj|colonial period]].{{refn|group=note|"Prior to this relatively modern coining of "Malayalam", the identity is even more fraught, for Kerala folk more usually referred to their language as "Tamil", just as those in the dominant kingdoms of Tamilnadu, east of the Western Ghats, had from the early centuries C.E. Use of the label "Tamil" continued to overlap with that of "Malayalam" into the colonial period".<ref name="Raghunathan 2003" />}}