Editing Telugu language (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Location map+ |India |thumb|float=right|caption=Locations of [[Trilinga Kshetras]] |places=
{{Location map~ |India |lat=16.792|long=82.0633 |label= Bhimeswaram |position=right}}
{{Location map~ |India |lat=16.074|long=78.868 |label= Srisailam|position=left}}
{{Location map~ |India |lat=18.85|long=79.9|label=Kaleswaram|position=right}}
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Speakers of Telugu refer to it as simply ''Telugu'' or ''Telugoo''.{{sfn|Rao|Shulman|2002|loc=Chapter 2}} Older forms of the name include ''Teluṅgu'' and ''Tenuṅgu''.<ref>{{citation |first=Asko |last=Parpola |author-link=Asko Parpola |title=The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-19-022692-3 |page=167}}</ref> ''Tenugu'' is derived from the [[Proto-Dravidian language|Proto-Dravidian]] word ''*ten'' ("south")<ref>{{cite book |title=Telugu Basha Charitra |publisher=Osmania University |year=1979 |location=Hyderabad |pages=6, 7}}</ref> to mean "the people who lived in the south/southern direction" (relative to Sanskrit and [[Prakrit]]-speaking peoples). The name ''Telugu'', then, is a result of an "n" to "l" alternation established in Telugu.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Dravidian Languages – Bhadriraju Krishnamurti}}</ref>{{sfn|Rao|Shulman|2002|loc=Introduction}}

The popular belief holds that Telugu is derived from Trilinga of [[Trilinga Kshetras]] being the land bounded by the three [[Linga]]s which is Telugu homeland. P. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao note that Atharvana Acharya in the 13th century wrote a grammar of Telugu, calling it the ''Trilinga Śabdānusāsana (or Trilinga Grammar)''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chenchiah |first1=P. |year=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xwXx7LB-ai4C&pg=PA55 |title=A History of Telugu Literature |last2=Rao |first2=Raja M. Bhujanga |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=978-81-206-0313-4 |page=55 |access-date=26 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013130924/https://books.google.com/books?id=xwXx7LB-ai4C&pg=PA55 |archive-date=13 October 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, most scholars note that Atharvana's grammar was titled ''Atharvana Karikavali.''{{Refn|<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bBJuAAAAMAAJ&q=Atharvana |title=Sri Venkateswara University Oriental Journal |date=1974 |publisher=Oriental Research Institute, [[Sri Venkateswara University]]|volume=17 |page=55 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Purushottam |first=Boddupalli |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lZkAAAAMAAJ&q=Atharvana+Telugu+Grammar |title=The Theories of Telugu Grammar |date=1996 |publisher=International School of Dravidian Linguistics |isbn=978-81-85692-17-3 |page=4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Aksharajna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dh43AQAAMAAJ&q=Atharvana+Telugu+Grammar |title=Some Mile-stones in Telugu Literature |date=1915 |publisher=Read & Company |page=41 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sherwani |first=Haroon Khan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9T5uAAAAMAAJ&q=Atharvana+Telugu+Grammar |title=History of Medieval Deccan, 1295-1724: Mainly cultural aspects |date=1974 |publisher=Government of Andhra Pradesh |page=167 |language=en |author-link=Haroon Khan Sherwani}}</ref>}} [[Appa-kavi|Appa Kavi]] in the 17th century explicitly wrote that ''Telugu'' was derived from ''Trilinga''. Scholar [[Charles Philip Brown|C. P. Brown]] made a comment that it was a "strange notion" since the predecessors of Appa Kavi had no knowledge of such a derivation.<ref>{{citation |last=Brown |first=Charles P. |title=Madras Journal of Literature and Science |volume=X |page=53 |year=1839 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013130924/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhkYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA53 |chapter=Essay on the Language and Literature of Telugus |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhkYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA53 |publisher=Vepery mission Press. |access-date=26 January 2017 |archive-date=13 October 2022 |author-link=Charles Phillip Brown |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[George Abraham Grierson]] and other linguists doubt this derivation, holding rather that ''Telugu'' was the older term and ''Trilinga'' must be the later [[Sanskritisation]] of it.<ref name="Grierson1967">{{Linguistic Survey of India|4|year=1967|orig-date=1906|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|place=Delhi|chapter=Telugu|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_tel_detail-1|access-date=12 June 2014|p=576}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Sekaram |first=Kandavalli Balendu |title=The Andhras through the ages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6E5AQAAIAAJ |page=4 |year=1973 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013130925/https://books.google.com/books?id=E6E5AQAAIAAJ |publisher=Sri Saraswati Book Depot |quote="The easier and more ancient "Telugu" appears to have been converted here into the impressive Sanskrit word Trilinga, and making use of its enormous prestige as the classical language, the theory was put forth that the word Trilinga is the mother and not the child." |access-date=25 January 2017 |archive-date=13 October 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> If so the derivation itself must have been quite ancient because ''Triglyphum'', ''Trilingum'' and ''Modogalingam'' are attested in ancient Greek sources, the last of which can be interpreted as a Telugu rendition of "''Trilinga''".<ref>{{citation |last=Caldwell |first=Robert |title=A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages |url=http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil_elib/Cdw856__Caldwell_ComparativeGrammarDravidian.pdf |page=64 |year=1856 |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil_elib/Cdw856__Caldwell_ComparativeGrammarDravidian.pdf |location=London |publisher=Harrison |archive-date=9 October 2022 |author-link=Robert Caldwell |url-status=live}}</ref>