Let me explain the words for 'death' in Tamil and the concepts behind them.
1)Irappu
In the view of Tamils , life begins with conception; the conceived embryo is called‘karu’ (pronounced like current+voodoo) which takes ‘form’ ie body,called ‘vuru’ (wooden+ruthless). Vuru+Vuyir (no English word to correctly represent‘vuyir’:nearest approximation is ‘life’)leads to ‘pirappu’-coming into the world with life.Now, it follows that ‘irappu’is departing from the world, shedding life.’Pirappu’ is taking form with life;‘ irappu’ is losing form ie. shedding life.Tamils had a scientific thinking in such matters and even ‘vowels’ are called ‘vuyir’ letters and ‘consonants’ ‘mei’ letters (Body letters).A ‘mei’ letter can live by a ‘vowel’ ie ‘vuyir’ letter only!Incidentally ‘Irappu’ is a noun only.
2)Chavu
The term chavu refers to the state of ‘no life".It is opposed to the state of life.There is a saying in Tamil ‘Chettha pambai adippathu pola’ which means ‘Its like killing a dead snake’.The actual implication of the word ‘ chettha’ (which is a past participle of chavu ) is more than just dead.It implies the absence of all attributes of active life.This term is also used with reference to non-human living things like animals,snakes, insects etc(The word ‘maranam’ is never used for non-human references).The opposite of ‘chavu’ is ’vazhvu’ which roughly means ‘life’ in English.However this term ‘vazhvu’ is used for both human and non-human lives.
3)Maranam
‘Maranam’is the event of death.As mentioned earlier this term is used only for human beings. This term is a noun but can be used as an adjective by just trimming the last sound.For eg: ‘marana seithi’ means ‘death news’ .’Maranam adaindhan’ means ‘he died’.
4)Other words for 'death' and the related concepts.
- Alandral அலன்றல் chavu
- Ilavu இழவு loss
- Kazhivu கழிவு deduction
- Madivu மடிவு end
- Kodunthuyar கொடுந்துயர் great loss
- Iravu இறவு irappu
- Il இல் disappear
- iruthi இறுதி end
Kaallam is also often used to mean 'expiry'
