I was looking through Dravidian etymological dictionary to find some Dravidian root words and to my surprise there was no true root word for Lion (except for Yali,ali which I would discuss later in this post).
Ok first what is root word?
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family (root is then called base word), which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents.
This post is in search of the Tamil lion. The question here is do we have true Tamil root word for Lion???
First let us go through a list of words used in Tamil Literature for Lion
அரி ari
அறுகு aṟuku
ஆளி āḷi
கடுமான் kaṭu-māṉ
கொடும்புலி koṭu-m-puli
கோண்மா kōṇ-mā
கோவிலங்கு kō-vilaṅku
கோளரி kōḷ-ari
சிங்கம் ciṅkam
சிம்மம் cimmam
தெரிமா terimā
பூட்கை pūṭkai
மடங்கல் maṭaṅkal
மறப்புலி maṟa-p-puli
மாபுலி mā-puli
முன்னம்³ muṉṉam
யாளி yāḷi
வட்புலி vaṭ-puli
வயப்புலி vaya-p-puli
வயமா vaya-mā
வன்மான் vaṉ-māṉ
வாளரி vāḷ-ari
விலங்கரசு vilaṅkaracu
Now we can separate this into groups,
First would be most commonly used words- Tamilized version of Simha
Simha>சிங்கம் ciṅkam
Simha>சிம்மம் cimmam
Second most commonly word group would be derivative of Pakrit word Hari
Hari>Ari – golden yellow, Hari in saksrit means lion
Ma- Animal
Ari+ma – Animal in golden yellow . (Root word Ari in Tamil means cut,itching – Ari in Arima is derivative of Indo Aryan root word Hari)
வாளரி vāḷ-ari -> Strong/powerful lion
கோளரி kōḷ-ari-> Strong/powerful lion
Other group of words used for lion is reference to Lion being king of forest, ko-. king
கோவிலங்கு kō-vilaṅku -> king animal
முன்னம் muṉṉam –> Chief animal
விலங்கரசு vilaṅkaracu
Most of the words are used to showcase its ferociousness and power/strength
கோண்மா kōṇ-mā -> Powerful/predatory animal
கடுமான் kaṭu-māṉ – strong/powerful/ferocious animal
கொடும்புலி koṭu-m-puli- strong/powerful/ferocious animal
வட்புலி vaṭ-puli – strong/powerful tiger
வயப்புலி vaya-p-puli – strong/powerful tiger
வயமா vaya-mā – strong/poweful animal
வன்மான் vaṉ-māṉ – strong/powerful animal
மறப்புலி maṟa-p-puli – strong/powerful/ferocious tiger
மாபுலி mā-puli – great/strong tiger
ஆளி āḷi – lion – āḷi also means one who rules
Now lets go to other words used to denote lion,
தெரிமா terimā – could be either animal which investigates or animal which has powerful vision
மடங்கல் maṭaṅkal –
Matanku means – to be in control or subdue > Matankal – one who controls–> yama –> animal which has control/or destructive animal
Now lets come to the last category:
யாளி yāḷi is a mythical animal with lion face with tusks. This term is also used to denote lions
பூட்கை pūṭkai – is used to denote yāḷi, elephants and lions.
From the analysis except for yāḷi no other Dravidian root word is specifically used for lion. Yali is also primarly used as mythical animal with lion face. This show that Dravidian language chain does not have root word for lion but has 3 root words for tiger which could mean ancient Dravidians might have not encountered lion.
Epilogue – March 2020
Going by the latest studies if we believe Indus Valley Scripts were proto Dravidian, we have added proof to this post. See below two images. One is image of Mesopotamian hero Gilgamesh killing two lions as described in his epic (the oldest available EPIC). Similar image is found in Indus Valley, where most scholars believe it was imported story with local customization and others both versions have an earlier common ancestor story of man vs wild. But in either case, Indus valley image has tigers instead of lions. In fact, none of the available Indus valley tablets have lion and only feature tiger. This shows Harappan or Proto Dravidian people never encountered lion and hence there is no definitive root word for Lion in Dravidian languages.
Reference:
Early Indian – Tony Joseph
கற்க... நிற்க ... 
see my comment on Facebook! the last para is absurd. vilangu arasu is the best Tamil word.
Yali is not a tamil word. Vyaala (வ்யால) is a sanskrit word that means any wild animal – sometimes specifically elephant, tiger, leopard also. Hari in Sanskrit also mean ape, monkey, horse, snake, peacock, cuckoo, frog, parrot – all much lesser used than the common meaning lion.
The word Singam is a pure Tamil word. This is derived from the Tamil word Seku.
ச
¹-
த
seku-, 1. To destroy, kill;
கத
. (
ப
.) 2. To conquer;
வத
.
பபல
வனக
சம
(
சவக
. 1903).
ச
Seku-> (
சக
Sekam)->(
சக
sikam)->
சக
si
ṅ
gam, n 1. Lion;
மகவமள
ஒ
வல
.
ம
சக
மறர
(
ப
.
உச
.47, 111). 2. Leo, the fifth sign of the zodiac;
சகரச
. (
ப
.) 3. A title, chieflyamong
Vē
ḷ
ā
ḷ
as, as in
பலசக
;
வளள
ஒ
படபய
. (J.)
சக
si
ṅ
gam -> Telugu
సింగము
si
ṅ
gamu, kannada
ಂಗ
singa, Malayalam
ചിങ്ങം
chi
ṅṅ
am
சக
si
ṅ
gam -> Hindi
सघ
• (s
ĩ
ngh) m., Urdu spelling
سنگھ
, lion
ச
Seku-> (
சக
Sekam)->(
சக
sikam)-> (
சவ
sivam)-> (
சம
simam)-
ச
Seku-> (
சக
Sekam)->(
சக
sikam)-> (simka) -> Skt.
सहः
si
ṃ
ha
ḥ
1 Alion;. -2 The sign Leo of the Zodiac.. -3 (At the end of comp.) Best, pre-eminent of a class; -4 A particular place prepared for the building of a house. -5 (In music) Akind of tone. –
ச
Seku-> (
சக
Sekam)->(
சக
sikam)->
சய
¹ sīyam , n. 1. Lion;
சக
.
சய
ம
பப
ரவ
(
ப
.
உச
. 42, 85). 2. Leo, a sign of thezodiac;
சகரச
. (
தவ
.)
சய
¹
sīyam
–
> Pali. Sīha, chinese
狮
shī, Burmese. Thiha
Sanskrit pundits tried to connect with the word
हस्
hims and thereby claim that theword
सहः
si
ṃ
ha
ḥ
is alleged derived form
हस्
hims by merely saying “hinasti itisimhah” – hinasti smaraNa mAtreNa samasta pApAn iti simhah. According to thisinterpretation, the word himsa changes to simha by transposition of letters. Thereis no proof or logic for that claim.
हस्
hi
ṃ
s
हस्
1, 7 P., 1 U. (
हसित
,
िहनित
,
हसयित
–
ते
,
हिसत
) 1 To strike, hit. -2 Tohurt, injure, harm;
दीघ
बुिमतो
बा
स
तायां
हित
हिसतः
Pt.1.37. -3 To afflict, tor-ment;
िहनित
यगं
वर
इव
गरीयािनप
इतो
Māl.2.1.
-4 To kill, slay, destroycompletely;
कत
सू ते
दुकृतं
या
िहनित
U.5.31; R.8.45;
न
िहनयामनामानं
ततो
याित
परां
गितम्
Bg.13.28; Bk.6.38;14.57;15.78.If the alleged word
सहः
si
ṃ
ha
ḥ
is having the meaning of “to kill, slay, destroy” asmistakenly connected with the word
हस्
hi
ṃ
s
हस्
, the Tamil word
ச
¹-
த
seku-, 1. To destroy, kill;
கத
. (
ப
.) is having the same meanings toevolve
सहः
si
ṃ
ha
ḥ
and is the direct root for
सहः
si
ṃ
ha
ḥ
सहः
si
ṃ
ha
ḥ
is derived from the Tamil word “
ச
seku” on
Tiger, like the elephant, is native to India; Lion is not. Lion, like the horse, was brought into India. Hence, it is logical that the reference to tiger (and elephant) is in original Tamil. Similarly, reference to the lion is in words borrowed from Sanskrit, the language associated with the invaders for whom lion was both real and symbolic.
Interesting piece of information. I had earlier taken up a project on elephant names in Sanskrit and Tamil. Now I am on the Aryan lion and Dravidian tiger and this piece of information will come handy to my interpretations.
Peria has made an important point. Let us not forget that lion was once widely distributed in most of NW India and now found only in Gujarat. I am working on a small topic on “Cultural, religious and mythological drivers influencing the depiction of the lion and tiger in Aryan and Dravidian literature”. Getting some interesting results. Very interesting indeed.
First of all,the premises that there is a group called”Dravidian Languages’itself is wrong.”Dravidian’ means ‘Tamil’ in Sanskrit ,another unspoken language ! Once the classification itself is wrong,all inferences become wrong !The very fact Tamil has 24 words for’lion’ should throw any scholar off his balance !But here the blogger is trying to prove that there is no word available for ‘lion’ in Tamil !Research should be neutral to find the truth.Never trust the existing published findings as fully correct.
For the first time I came to know that lion and elephants are not orginal animals of India.
very interesting
Have you considered Hebrew ארי (‘ari’) which means ‘Lion’ (it exists also as a personal name)? There’s a second form אריה (‘arjeh’ – also ‘Lion’), probably related to Assyrian arû, which may also mean ‘Lion’.
I thought அரி is the root word, your root word definition and blog post doesn’t match.. whole articles looks confused