Tamil derivates :aritu that which is difficult, rare, precious; ariya difficult; arumai rareness, smallness; difficulty; arumanta rare, precious; aruku (aruki-) to become scarce, diminished, be reduced, happen rarely, disappear; arukku (arukki-) to make scarce, reduce, put a stop to, destroy; regard as precious; n. scarceness; arukkam smallness, brevity; arukkāṇi rareness, preciousness; aruŋku, aruntal, aruvam rareness; aruppam difficulty, fort; (PPTI) aruppu the natural protection of a forest; arakku (arakki-) to cause to diminish; āri difficulty; āriya little, delicate
Malayalam :aru
Malayalam meaning :rare, unusual, impossible
Malayalam derivates :ariya rare, uncommon; aruma, arima superiority, importance; difficulty; arippam difficulty; arutu what ought not to be, impossibility; arukuka to diminish
Kannada :aradu, aridu, arudu
Kannada meaning :that is impossible, wonderful, great or important
Tulu :arkuni
Tulu meaning :to become less, be humbled, depressed
Tamil meaning :a plough with bullocks, etc. complete
Notes :An isolated Tamil form, compared in DEDR with Malto are 'plough'. Proto-Dravidian status is hardly likely. The obvious comparison is with PIE *ar(ǝ)- 'to plough', although it is unclear how the actual forms could have reached the Dravidian area, since the root is not found in Indo-Iranian.
Number in DED :0198
Proto-South Dravidian :*ara-
Meaning :file (n.)
Tamil :aram
Tamil meaning :file, rasp
Tamil derivates :arāvu (arāvi-), irāvu (irāvi-) to file, polish, rub, grate
Notes :Probably an old (PSDR or older) nominal derivative of *arai- 'to rub, grind'. Tamil and Malayalam forms in i- are, however, quite mysterious, because even in reduced position Tam. a- is never known to be neutralised with i-.
Number in DED :0228
Proto-South Dravidian :*araça-
Meaning :king
Tamil :aracan_, araican_, araiyan_
Tamil meaning :king, sovereign, prince
Tamil derivates :araci queen; aracu, araicu kingliness, king, kingdom, government; arai politics; ara-man_ai king's palace (also araṇman_ai royal place, mansion, with araṇ defence, fortress, castle < Skt. śaraṇa-)
Notes :Since it is hard to suppose that Tam. araci < Skt. rājñī-, one has to assume a back-formation in South Dravidian itself (where the formant -i was indeed used to produce female gender), for *araçi- as well as the abstract noun *araç[u]. The compound *ara-manai, in the light of the archaic Tamil form, should be traced back to *araṇ-manai and then to Skt. śaraṇa-. Cf. also Tel. arusu (the borrowing may date back to the period of SDR-Telugu unity).
Notes :A complicated case. Tam. aracu should point to *araç- as the PDR stem, which would not be very compatible with Kan. arase, arise < *araçai, not to mention the rest of the forms. However, I suspect that already on the PSDR level this root must have contaminated with *araça- 'king' (Ficus religiosa being seen as a 'kingly' tree), and this explains such forms as Tam. and Mal. aracu, reinterpreted as simply 'king', and Mal. arayāl, araśāl, from *araça- 'king' + *āl- 'banyan = Ficus bengalensis'. That there actually was an original *araçai 'Ficus religiosa' is confirmed by external data, which is hard to trace back to *araça- 'king'.
Number in DED :0202
Proto-South Dravidian :*arai
Meaning :trunk of tree
Tamil :arai
Tamil meaning :trunk of tree
Kannada :araḷe
Kannada meaning :post, pillar, statue
Notes :A rather poorly distributed root, and the derivational model in Kannaḍa is unclear. The Kannaḍa word does seem, however, to be related to Tel. rāḍu 'post, pillar'.
Tamil derivates :(-pp-, -tt-) to grind, pulverize, destroy by rubbing, mash, destroy, clear of seeds, gin; araippu grinding, pulverizing; aravu (aravi-) to torment (cf. Tu.); arakku (arakki-) to rub with the palm of hand or the sole of foot, ruin, cause trouble to; araŋku (araŋki-) to suffer, be destroyed; arantai affliction, trouble; aruvu (aruvi-) to wear away (as a flood erodes a river's banks), afflict
Malayalam :arayuka
Malayalam meaning :to be bruised
Malayalam derivates :aravu grinding; arekka to grind to powder; arappu powdering; araŋŋuka, arakkuka bruising gently to remove the husk by rubbing
Kannada :are (arad-)
Kannada meaning :to grind, pulverize, crush; n. state of being ground, etc.
Kannada derivates :arayisu, arisu to cause to grind, etc.; arata act of grinding; ari to grind on a slab, rub cotton with the feet in cleaning it; (Hav.) araccu to crush; (Hav.) arappu coconut paste
Kodagu :ara- (arap-, arat-)
Kodagu meaning :to grind with roller stone, mix up in a paste in preparing curry spices
Tulu :arepuni, arepini, areyuni, arevuni
Tulu meaning :to pulverize by pounding or grinding, oppress
Tulu derivates :arepāvuni to cause to grind; arepu, arepelụ act of grinding, that which is ground for condiment; areñcuni to rub off, peel, skin; araḍuni to rub
Notes :Most of the derivative stems can be traced back to *arai- with consonantal extensions. Tamil aruvu 'to wear away' may have appeared under the influence of aruvu 'to flow down (of spring)'.
Notes :Most probably the same root as *arai 'half' = 'middle of the body'.
Number in DED :0230
Proto-South Dravidian :*arak-
Meaning :lac, wax
Tamil :arakku
Tamil meaning :lac, sealing-wax, shellac, or resin melted with turpentine
Tamil derivates :arakkam shellac
Malayalam :arakku
Malayalam meaning :gumlac, sealing-wax
Kannada :aragu
Kannada meaning :gumlac, sealing-wax
Tulu :arakụ, aragụ
Tulu meaning :gumlac, sealing-wax
Notes :The word is obviously connected with Old Indian alakta- 'red substance, prob. lac or lac dye' (Turner 695); lākṣā́-, rākṣā́- 'lac, red dye' (Turner 11002). The direction of the borrowing seems to be from Indo-Aryan into Dravidian, given several potential IE etymologies for the Old Indian word and no Dravidian parallels outside SDR. The prothetic a- in Dravidian is quite regular in such cases (see *arac- 'king').
Tamil :araḷ (araḷv-, araṇṭ-), aruḷ (aruḷv-, aruṇṭ-)
Tamil meaning :to be terrified
Tamil derivates :araṭṭu (araṭṭi-), aruṭṭu (aruṭṭi-) to terrify, frighten; n. fear; araṭṭi fear; aruṭṭi quaking, trembling, agitation; araṭci, aruṭci confusion of mind, bewilderment; aruku (aruki-), arukku (arukki-) to be afraid
Malayalam :araḷuka
Malayalam meaning :to shrink
Malayalam derivates :araṭṭuka to frighten, alarm
Notes :The forms in Tulu hardly belong here; the correspondence "most SDR languages 0- / Tulu n-" is unparalleled, and even the semantics of the Tulu root are different.
Number in DED :3605
Proto-South Dravidian :*araḷi
Meaning :oleander
Tamil :araḷi, alari, (PPTI) aralai
Tamil meaning :oleander, Nerium odorum
Tamil derivates :araḷi fetid tree, Sterculia foetida
Malayalam :araḷi, alari
Malayalam meaning :Nerium odorum; Plumeria acuminata
Tamil meaning :typical lizard, Lacertidae; smooth streaked lizard, Lacerta interpunctula
Malayalam :araṇa
Malayalam meaning :green house lizard, L. interpunctula
Kannada :araṇe, rāṇe, rāṇi
Kannada meaning :greenish kind of lizard which is said to poison by licking, L. interpunctula
Tulu :araṇe
Tulu meaning :Lacerta interpunctula
Notes :Forms with syncopation in Kannaḍa formally look like they could have been borrowed from Telugu, but the root is not actually attested in Telugu.
Number in DED :0204
Proto-South Dravidian :*aratai
Meaning :galangal
Tamil :arattai
Tamil meaning :galangal, Alpinia
Malayalam :aratta
Malayalam meaning :Alpinia galanga
Notes :A Tamil-Malayalam isogloss.
Number in DED :0206
Proto-South Dravidian :*arau-
Meaning :to spring out (water)
Tamil :aruvu (aruvi-)
Tamil meaning :to spring out and gently flow down
Tamil derivates :aruvi waterfall, spring at the foot of a hill
Malayalam :aruvuka
Malayalam meaning :to spring out and flow down gently
Kannada meaning :a torrent that has ceased from flowing or is checked in its course
Kannada derivates :(PBh.) arvi constant descent of water, waterfall; (Hav.) abbi a tiny waterfall
Tulu :arbi
Tulu meaning :water collected in an elevated place
Tulu derivates :arbi kītuni water to fall in broken streams over a small height; (B-K.) arabi, arbi waterfall
Miscellaneous :KUR (LSB) ebbi waterfall; KOR (O) arbili water particles drifting in when it rains
Notes :The nominal derivative *arav-i < *arau-i 'waterfall' is well reconstructible for PSDR. Auslaut -au- is proposed on the basis of the verbal stem in -(u)v- in Tamil.
Tamil derivates :(-pp-, -tt-) to gnaw as white ants; n. cutting; ari vāḷ billhook, sickle, garden knife; arivi reaped corn, handful of reaped grain; aruvi stubble of Indian millet; arakku (arakki-) to clip off, prune, cut, sever
Malayalam :ariyuka
Malayalam meaning :to reap corn, cut grass, cut very small, hack to pieces
Malayalam derivates :ari vāḷ sickle, reaping hook; arikka to gnaw as vermin; arakkuka to cut, chop off, sever; araŋŋuka to cut or chop off (the branches of trees or plants)
Kannada :ari (arid-)
Kannada meaning :to cut or lop off; n. cutting off, gnawing as vermin, a handful or more of corn cut at one stroke
Kannada derivates :arisu to cause to cut off; arivāḷ, aruvāḷ sickle