Tandhe, Appa, Aiyya

ತಂದೆ, तंदे
ಅಪ್ಪ, अप्पा
ಅಯ್ಯ, अय्या

The meaning of these words is "Father".  Thande is used more when writing or when you are inquiring about someone else's father. Ayya was used in olden days. Appa is usually used when you are talking to your father to address him.

Thaayi, Amma, Maathe, Janani

I couldn't think of a better word to begin this journey where I will teach a kannada word every day.

All these words mean the same - Mother. Janani specifically means "the one who gives birth".

Amma is more commonly used, but you will find Thaayi and Maathe when you are either reading Kannada or when someone is addressing a Goddess.

Sirigannadam Gelge, Sirigannadam Baalge

Wondering what the title is? People from Karnataka and who admire Kannada would actually get goose bumps reading this!

What does it mean? I searched on the internet to see if some scholar had already put up the meaning of this shout. But couldn't find one. But many people seemed to use it out of patriotism towards the region/state/language.

I will make an attempt to translate what this means. Be warned that I'm no scholar in Kannada. All I know is what I learnt through my schooling.

The phrase is a combination of the following words. The words belong to Kannada as spoken in ancient days.

Siri - Rich
Gannadam - Kannada
Gelge - Win
Baalge - Live

Roughly, the title phrase translates to:

The richness of Kannada will triumph, 
The richness of Kannada will live on!

And what a wonderful day to blog about this. Today marks the 53rd anniversary of the Republic of India recognizing all Kannada speaking regions in South India as Karnataka. It is what we call the "Karnataka Rajyotsava" (Festival of the [Formation of the] State of Karnataka), celebrated on the 1st of November every year.

Thanks to Seby, for giving this wonderful idea about blogging about Kannada on this day. He suggested that I teach one word a day, through my blog, to people who are interested to learn Kannada.

The journey thus begins!