| Building Types |
| . |
| Trasliteration |
Tamil |
Meaning |
| . |
|
|
| kalvItu
|
¸øÅ£Î
|
Houses
constructed out of permanent materials such as concrete blocks, clay tiles etc. are
generally called as kalveedu which literally means stone house. |
| kattitam |
¸ðʼõ |
The word implies a built place,
and this stands for Building in English. |
| kOttai
|
§¸¡ð¨¼ |
Fort |
| kottil |
¦¸¡ðÊø |
Generally a shelter with posts
supporting a thatched roof, open on sides. Used for keeping live stock, storage and for
certain other activities. |
| kottu
|
¦¸¡ðÎ |
- |
| kOyil |
§¸¡Â¢ø |
Temple. Generally Hindu temple.
However in Jaffna, Christian Churches and Buddhist places of worship also some times
refered to as 'Koyil' with suitable adjectives such as 'Matha Koyil' and 'Buddha Koyil'. |
| matam
|
Á¼õf |
This denotes
resting places of different types found on road sides, near temples and market places,
cemeteries etc. Functions of this building type were ranging from provision shade for
short resting to the provision of food and sleeping space for temporary stay. |
| manai |
笃 |
In Jaffna 'Manai' means house. In
Tamil Nadu this word is also used to mean the plot where the house is constructed. |
| maNtapam
|
Áñ¼Àõf |
Large Hall.
Generally referred to deferent types of halls in Hindu temples and other public places
such as wedding halls (Kalyana Mandapam), Town hall (Nagara Mandapam) etc. |
| maNvItu |
ÁñţΠ|
Refers to a house made out
of mud walls and thatch roof. The floor too of the same material as the walls, used to be
finished with a mixture of cow dung and earth. |
| nARsArvItu
|
¿¡üº¡÷
ţΠ|
A Traditional
house with centre court yard. 'Natsar' in tamil language means 'four-sided'. |
| panthal |
Àó¾øf |
In Jaffna this word refers to
different types of temporary structures constructed for short term use. 'Thanneer Panthal'
constructed during temple festival days to provide shade and water to those who go to
temples by foot and shelters built with decoration for weddings are examples for this. |
| puhaiyilaikkudil
|
Ò¨¸Â¢¨Äì
ÌÊø |
- |
| santhai |
ºó¨¾ |
Market Place. |
| saththiram
|
ºò¾¢Ãõ |
This word also
refers to a Resting place, possibly a larger one. It seems that it has not been
interchangeably used in Jaffna. Most of the Jaffna resting places were called 'Madam'.
There was a resting place situated in the Jaffna town. This was referred to as 'Ganga
Saththiram' and the junction near it is still known as 'Saththiraththu Santhi' after this.
See also 'Madam'. |
| suruttukkottil |
ÍÕðÎì
¦¸¡ðÊø |
Generally an open shelter built
as a work space for cottage industry to produce cigars, one of the main economic activity
of Jaffna for centuries until recently. |
| vatta
vItu |
Åð¼
ţΠ|
This means
Round House. Single room mud houses with circular plan and conical roofs thatched with
Palmyrah leaves were found in some areas of Jaffna peninsula and Vanni. This type of
houses, which had been found in considerable numbers a few decades ago, had now reduced to
an insignificant number if not out of the scene completely. |
| vAsikasAlai |
Å¡º¢¸º¡¨Ä |
A public reading room. These
building types are of recent origin. Most of these buildings consist of a space where a
large table with benches is provided, for reading. Some of these have one or two lockable
rooms for storage and other purposes. |
| vIdu
|
Å£Î
|
Generally this
means House. Some times the word 'veedu' is also used, in Jaffna, to refer the main room
of the house. |
| |
