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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Middle Tamil
|nativename=
|pronunciation=
|era=Develops into [[Old Malayalam]] between the 9th - 12th century and [[Tamil language|Modern Tamil form of the Tamil language]] by the 16th century
|familycolor=Dravidian
|fam2 = [[Southern Dravidian languages|Southern]]
|fam3 = [[Tamil–Kannada languages|Tamil–Kannada]]
|fam4 = [[Tamil–Kodagu languages|Tamil–Kodagu]]
|fam5 = [[Tamil languages]]
|ancestor = [[Old Tamil language|Old Tamil]]
|script = [[Tamil alphabet]]
|isoexception=historical
|glotto=none
}}

[[File:Tanjavur Tamil Inscription2.jpg|thumbnail|right|Tanjavur Tamil Inscription]]
The development of [[Old Tamil]] into '''Middle Tamil''', which is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century,<ref name="Lehmann 1998 75">{{Harvnb|Lehmann|1998|pp=75–76}}</ref> was characterised by a number of phonological and grammatical changes despite maintaining grammatical and structural continuity with the previous form of the language . In phonological terms, the most important shifts were the virtual disappearance of the aytam (ஃ), an old phoneme,<ref>{{Harvnb|Kuiper|1958|p=194}}</ref> the coalescence of the alveolar and dental nasals,<ref>{{Harvnb|Meenakshisundaran|1965|pp=132–133}}</ref> and the transformation of the alveolar [[plosive]] into a [[Rhotic consonant|rhotic]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Kuiper|1958|pp=213–215}}</ref>

In grammar, the most important change was the emergence of the present tense. The present tense evolved out of the verb ''{{IAST|kil}}'' ({{lang|ta|கில்}}), meaning "to be possible" or "to befall". In Old Tamil, this verb was used as an [[Grammatical aspect|aspect marker]] to indicate that an action was micro-durative, non-sustained or non-lasting, usually in combination with a time marker such as ''{{IAST|ṉ}}'' ({{lang|ta|ன்}}). In Middle Tamil, this usage evolved into a present tense marker – ''{{IAST|kiṉṟa}}'' ({{lang|ta|கின்ற}}) – which combined the old aspect and time markers.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/601707| jstor = 601707| title = The Duration of an Action-Real or Aspectual? The Evolution of the Present Tense in Tamil| journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society| volume = 105| issue = 2| pages = 277–291| year = 1985| last1 = Rajam | first1 = V. S.}} at pp. 284–285</ref>

Early Middle Tamil is the ancestor of [[Malayalam]] languages and the preceding form of the current form of the language generally referred to as modern Tamil .<ref>{{cite book |last=Ayyar |first=Ramaswami |url=https://archive.org/stream/TheEvolutionOfMalayalamMorphology/The-Evolution-of-Malayalam-Morphology|page=1-37 | title=The Evolution of Malayalam Morphology|year=1936 |publisher=Cochin government press |location=Cochin, Kerala |edition=1st}}</ref> Both languages share multiple common innovations dating to this period. For example, [[Old Tamil]] lacks the first and second person plural pronouns with the ending ''{{IAST|kaḷ}}''. It is in the Early Middle Tamil stage that ''{{IAST|kaḷ}}'' first appears:<ref>{{cite book |last=Ayyar |first=Ramaswami |url=https://archive.org/stream/TheEvolutionOfMalayalamMorphology/The-Evolution-of-Malayalam-Morphology|page=35-37 | title=The Evolution of Malayalam Morphology|year=1936 |publisher=Cochin government press |location=Cochin, Kerala |edition=1st}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Language
! Plural Pronouns
|-
| [[Old Tamil]]
| yārn, nām, nīr, nīyir
|-
| Middle Tamil
| nānkaḷ, nām, nīnkaḷ, enkaḷ
|-
| [[Malayalam]]
| ñaṅṅaḷ, nām, niṅṅaḷ, nammaḷ
|}

Indeed, most features of [[Malayalam]] morphology are derivable from a form of speech corresponding to early Middle Tamil.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ayyar |first=Ramaswami |url=https://archive.org/stream/TheEvolutionOfMalayalamMorphology/The-Evolution-of-Malayalam-Morphology|page=2 | title=The Evolution of Malayalam Morphology|year=1936 |publisher=Cochin government press |location=Cochin, Kerala |edition=1st}}</ref>

From the period of the [[Pallava dynasty]] onwards, a number of [[Sanskrit]] loan-words entered Tamil, particularly in relation to political, religious and philosophical concepts.<ref>{{Harvnb|Meenakshisundaran|1965|pp=173–174}}</ref> Sanskrit also influenced Tamil grammar, in the increased use of cases and in declined nouns becoming adjuncts of verbs,<ref>{{Harvnb|Meenakshisundaran|1965|pp=153–154}}</ref> and phonology.

The forms of writing in Tamil have developed through years.<ref>{{Harvnb|Meenakshisundaran|1965|pp=145–146}}</ref> The Tamil script also changed in the period of Middle Tamil. Tamil Brahmi and [[Vaṭṭeḻuttu]], into which it evolved, were the main scripts used in Old Tamil inscriptions. From the 8th century onwards, however, the Pallavas began using a new script, derived from the [[Grantha script|Pallava Grantha script]] which was used to write Sanskrit, which eventually replaced Vaṭṭeḻuttu.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mahadevan|2003|pp=208–213}}</ref>

Middle Tamil is attested in many inscriptions, and in a significant body of secular and religious literature.<ref>{{Harvnb|Meenakshisundaran|1965|p=119}}</ref> These include the religious poems and songs of the [[Bhakti movement|Bhakti]] poets, such as the [[Tēvāram]] verses on [[Shaivism]] and [[Nālāyira Tivya Pirapantam]] on [[Vaishnavism]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Varadarajan|1988}}</ref> and adaptations of religious legends such as the 12th century [[Ramavataram|Tamil Ramayana]] composed by [[Kambar (poet)|Kamban]] and the story of 63 [[Nayanmars|shaivite devotees]] known as Periyapurāṇam.<ref>{{Harvnb|Varadarajan|1988|pp=155–157}}</ref> [[Iraiyaṉār Akapporuḷ]], an early treatise on love poetics, and [[Naṉṉūl]], a 12th-century grammar that became the standard grammar of literary Tamil, are also from the Middle Tamil period.<ref> {{Harvnb|Zvelebil|1992|p=227}}</ref>
Despite the significant amount of grammatical and syntactical change between Old, Middle and Modern Tamil, Tamil demonstrates grammatical continuity across these stages: many characteristics of the later stages of the language have their roots in features of Old Tamil.<ref name="Lehmann 1998 75">{{Harvnb|Lehmann|1998|pp=75–76}}</ref>
There is a famous saying {{cquote|திருவாசகத்துக்கு உருகார் ஒரு வாசகத்திற்கும் உருகார்<br />(''tiruvācakattukku urukār ǒru vācakattiṛkum urukār'')}}
translating to 'He whose heart is not melted by ''[[Thiruvasagam]]'' cannot be melted by any other
''vasagam'' [saying]<nowiki />'.<ref name="Macdonell219">Macdonell 1994, p. 219</ref> The Thiruvasagam was composed by [[Manikkavasagar]].

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Citation | doi = 10.1007/BF00162818| title = Two problems of old Tamil phonology I. The old Tamil āytam (with an appendix by K. Zvelebil)| journal = Indo-Iranian Journal| volume = 2| issue = 3| pages = 191–224| year = 1958| last1 = Kuiper | first1 = F. B. J.| s2cid = 161402102}}
* {{Citation | last=Lehmann | first=Thomas | contribution=Old Tamil | editor-last=Steever | editor-first=Sanford | title=The Dravidian Languages | publisher=Routledge | year=1998 | place=London | isbn=978-0-415-10023-6 | pages=75–99}}
* {{Citation | last=Mahadevan | first=Iravatham | author-link=Iravatham Mahadevan | title=Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D | series=[[Harvard Oriental Series]] vol. 62 | year=2003 | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher=Harvard University Press | isbn=978-0-674-01227-1}}
* {{Citation |last=Meenakshisundaran |first=T.P. |title=A History of Tamil Language |publisher=Deccan College | place=Poona |year=1965}}
* {{Citation | last=Varadarajan | first=Mu. | title=A History of Tamil Literature | publisher=Sahitya Akademi | place=New Delhi | year=1988}} (Translated from Tamil by E.Sa. Viswanathan)
* {{Citation | last=Zvelebil | first=Kamil | title=Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature | publisher=Brill | place=Leiden | year=1992 | isbn=978-90-04-09365-2 }}
{{refend}}
[[Category:Tamil language]]
[[Category:Languages attested from the 8th century]]
[[Category:8th-century establishments in Asia]]

Middle Tamil - Revision history

imported>Arjayay: Sp