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ArchivesRe: meaning and correct spelling of Char amati
in reply to a message by Joy
Sorry can't recognize it: any hint as to what context you heard it in? Did you hear it from an Indian? North or South? What sound are you representing with the ch (English chair?) similarly, are the -a-'s roughly likely in about or as in car?
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Unfortunately, that does not fit the context in which the original poster asked.
A little bit of Google searching shows a Turkish site which claims that an actress called Shashikala acted in the role of Charamati in the 1981 Hindi film Kranti. I have not seen this film, but IMDB gives the name of the same character as Charumati. Now, this is interesting because Charumati is an Indian name from antiquity (http://tinyurl.com/2bt8hgd) and does indeed have a mythological connection, though not etymological link, to devotion (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalakshmi_Vrata).
cArumatI is pronounced with an -u- as in English put, but it is short, so in rapid speech one could confuse it with the schwa -a-. The word derives from cAru, which is an old word (related forms appear in the Rigveda) and means pleasant or beautiful. This itself is formed by a suffix -ru on some verb like can/kan etc. which means to take pleasure, to be satisfied etc., though their Indoeuropean cognates seem to cluster more towards `to shine.' In any case this cAru with the suffix -mat (possesing something) means lovely, and the -I is the feminine suffix on that. So, cArumatI means a lovely lady, etymologically.
A little bit of Google searching shows a Turkish site which claims that an actress called Shashikala acted in the role of Charamati in the 1981 Hindi film Kranti. I have not seen this film, but IMDB gives the name of the same character as Charumati. Now, this is interesting because Charumati is an Indian name from antiquity (http://tinyurl.com/2bt8hgd) and does indeed have a mythological connection, though not etymological link, to devotion (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalakshmi_Vrata).
cArumatI is pronounced with an -u- as in English put, but it is short, so in rapid speech one could confuse it with the schwa -a-. The word derives from cAru, which is an old word (related forms appear in the Rigveda) and means pleasant or beautiful. This itself is formed by a suffix -ru on some verb like can/kan etc. which means to take pleasure, to be satisfied etc., though their Indoeuropean cognates seem to cluster more towards `to shine.' In any case this cAru with the suffix -mat (possesing something) means lovely, and the -I is the feminine suffix on that. So, cArumatI means a lovely lady, etymologically.
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