Many words used in Jaffna in relation to architecture and built environment have been
included In this glossary. However it covers only a fraction of such terms. In fact it is
not a systematic collection. In future it is intended to develop it more systematically
and comprehensively. Visitors are welcome to
suggest any suitable words that are not included here. The
terms included here are organized in five divisions, namely Building Types,
Spatial Elements, Components, Activities
and Environment. The contents include the transliteration of the words,
the word in Tamil alphabets and the meaning or explanation in English. In each division
the words are arranged in alphabetical order based on the transliteration
of the words.
The following system is used for transliteration:
| Vowels |
| a |
« |
as 'u' in but |
| A |
¬ |
as 'a' in father |
| i |
þ |
as 'i' in pin |
| I |
® |
as 'ee' in feet |
| u |
¯ |
as 'u' in full |
| U |
° |
as 'u' in rule |
| e |
± |
as 'e' in pen |
| E |
² |
as 'a' in fade |
| ai |
³ |
as 'i' in file |
| o |
´ |
as 'o' in got |
| O |
µ |
as 'o' in cone |
| au |
¶ |
as 'ou' in foul |
| Consonents |
| k |
ì |
same as 'k' |
| ng |
í |
as 'ng' in finger |
| c or s |
î |
as 'c' in cent |
| nj |
ï |
as 'nge' in orange |
| d or t |
ð |
as 'd' in dog |
| N |
ñ |
some thing similar to 'n' in bun but pronounced with the tongue curled back up to the
roof of the mouth. |
| th |
ò |
as 'th' in faith |
| n |
ó |
When it is used as first letter of a word it
is pronounced same as English letter 'n'. In
the middle on the word it comes in combination with 'th' and pronounced as 'nth' as
in synthetic |
| p |
ô |
as 'p'
in English |
| m |
õ |
as 'm'
in English |
| y |
ö |
as 'y'
in English |
| r |
÷ |
as 'r'
in English |
| l |
ø |
as 'l'
in English |
| v |
ù |
as 'v'
in English |
| z |
ú |
This is a 'voiced alveolar-lateral
fricative', however these days many pronounced it as 'L' (see below) |
| L |
û |
This is a retroflex 'l', pronounced with the
tongue bent backward and up to the roof of the mouth. |
| R |
ü |
R is a strongly trilled alveolar r. When
doubled it is pronounced in Jaffna as 'tt' in attack.
(In Tamilnadu it is pronounced as 'ttr' in attract) |
| n2 |
ý |
as 'n' in English |
| Grantha characters |
| j |
ˆ |
as 'j' in jar |
| S |
Š |
as 's' in sea |
| sh |
‰ |
as 'sh' in short |
| h |
‹ |
as 'h' in high |
| sri |
‚ |
as 'srI' |
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