Editing Ooty (section)

==Etymology==
The region was earlier known as ''Ottakal Mandu'', with ''Otta-kal'' meaning 'single stone' in [[Tamil language|Tamil]], a reference to a sacred stone revered by the local [[Toda people]] and '' Mandu'', a [[Toda people|Toda]] word for 'village'.<ref>{{cite book|title=Tribal Communities and Social Change|last=Mathew Chacko|first=Pariyaram|publisher=SAGE|year=2005|isbn=978-0-7619-3330-4|pages=180, 188}}</ref> This later became Udagamandalam which was anglicised to Ootacamund by the [[British Raj|British]], with the first part of the name (''Ootaca''), a corruption of the local name for the region and the second part (''Mand''), a shortening of the local Toda word ''Mandu''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ootacamund, A History|publisher=Madras Government Press|last=Price|first=Frederick|year=1908|pages=14–15}}</ref><ref name="names">{{Cite book |last=Guides |first=Rough |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eV7bEAAAQBAJ&dq=Udagamandalam+(ooty)&pg=PT813 |title=The Rough Guide to South India & Kerala (Travel Guide eBook) |date=October 2023 |publisher=Apa Publications (UK) Limited |isbn=978-1-83905-950-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hariharan |first=Githa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t4y_CwAAQBAJ&dq=udagai+ooty&pg=PA79 |title=Almost Home: Finding a Place in the World from Kashmir to New York |date=22 March 2016 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-63206-061-7 |access-date=14 August 2024 |archive-date=14 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240814113513/https://books.google.com/books?id=t4y_CwAAQBAJ&dq=udagai+ooty&pg=PA79 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first known written mention of the place is given as ''Wotokymund'' in a letter dated March 1821, written to the ''[[Madras Gazette]]'' by an unknown correspondent.<ref name="TT">{{cite web|url=https://www.tn.gov.in/district_details/582|title=Nilgiris district|access-date=15 February 2023|publisher=[[Government of Tamil Nadu]]|archive-date=27 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727153304/https://www.tn.gov.in/district_details/582|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Ootacamund'' was later shortened to ''Ooty''. Ooty is in the [[Nilgiris|Nilgiri hills]], meaning the "blue mountains", so named due to the [[Kurunji]] flower, which used to give the slopes a bluish tinge.<ref name="DT">{{cite web|url=https://nilgiris.nic.in/about-district/history/|title=Nilgiris history|publisher=[[Government of Tamil Nadu]]|access-date=1 December 2023|archive-date=2 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202131703/https://nilgiris.nic.in/about-district/history/|url-status=live}}</ref>