Toponymy across Karnataka

The history of names is an interesting subject. I'd started my own little research a year or two ago but did not make much progress as such. On and off there were incidents which gave bits and pieces of info. For example;  while climbing Watagal, a boulder heap hill, I asked my companions about the name's origin. Pushpa was the one say that originally the hill might have been called Wattida Kallu, meaning heap of stones. The phrase might have evolved to the Wattidagallu and finally to Watagal. There are few straight examples like- 1. the village Kappagallu was named so because of its proximity to a hill which has a face of black stones; 2. Jaladurga - Jala means water and Durga is fort; this fort is situated on an island in river Krishna hence the name. Having visited many places ending with kallu or gallu, I realized most places had histories dating back to Neolithic times. During a quiz, one of the questions was about Allahabad - that's where I learned that 'abad' was a Persian suffix cities. Also, on our trips, guides at historical spots would narrate interesting stories about place names.

So, the study of place names, their origins and meanings is Toponymy. Toponym is the common name for any geographical place. There are specific types of toponym such as 'hydronym' for a water body and 'oronym' for a hill or mountain.

The study also includes corruptions by rulers of different religious community or foreigners or even by local folks. There's a Devadurga in Raichur district which is corrupted to Deodurga. A village between Dharwad and Saundatti is commonly called as Haribidi - its original name is Harobelavadi. People find shortcuts even in pronouncing. We all know the long lasting effects of British, French and Portuguese on our place names. One beautiful name that's twisted badly is Srirangapattana. Search for it and you'll be seeing lot of results with Seringapatam. A British political agent has spelled Kalyani as Kullianee - spelled as pronounced.

Then there are names like Maski, Byadgi, Mudkavi, Lalguli, Gubbi, Kanakumbi, Muddebihal, Jamkhandi, Sondur, Kushtgi, Manvi, Roudakunda, Piklihala, , and many more for which I have no clue what the names mean or how they came into being.

You might not have heard of Talgatpura. Its a village on Bengaluru-Kanakapura. I'd asked the meaning of the name to person from this village. He wasn't sure and a common acquaintance's thought was- Talgat can be split into Talae + ketta.  "Talae ketta" means "out of one's mind." The conclusion was that, if were lot of mad people in this village at some point of time.. this was said in a jovial tone, no offense meant. The curiosity to know the history of the name remains..

Here's a list I could put together. Surely, I expect this list to grow.

ಪದ	name ends with	meaning	places
ಕ್ಯಾಂಪ್	camp	camp	Amareshwara Camp, Burma Camp	found mostly in Raichur and Gangawati districts; these were supposedly temporary settlemets which have been around for many years
ಪುರ	pura	city	Chikkaballapura, Vijayapura	Usually a well planned city is named as Pura or Puram.
ಕೊಳ್ಳ	kolla	cleft, valley	Siddana Kolla, Shabari Kolla	These are ancient Hindu shrines concealed in rock clefts with a stream flowing by it. Kollas are found in northern part of Karnataka, particularly in Bagalkote and Belgaum districts.
ಸಂಗಮ	sangama	confluence	Kudala Sangama	Hinduism considers confluences as holy spots and usually temples are built at the confluence; as the temple gains popularity people settle nearby forming a village or small town
ಅಬಾದ್	abad	cultivated place	Shahabad, Firozabad	cities on plain land namedby Muslim rulers
ಕಾಡು	kadu	forest	Talakaadu, Yercad
ದುರ್ಗ	durga	fort	Chitradurga, Savanadurga, Hosadurga	Durga means fort. Fortified hills under Hindu kings usually had names ending with Durga.
ಕೋಟೆ	kote	fort	Hosakote	Kote means fort. Fortified towns' ruled by Hindu kings had names ending with Kote.
ಘಡ್	gad	fort	Vallabhgad, Panhalgad	Gad means fort in Marathi. Fortified hills under Maratha kings had names ending with gad.
ವತಿ	vati	girl	Bhadravati, Gangavati
ಹಟ್ಟಿ	hatti	hamlet	Hullollihatti, Shirahatti	Hamlets which grew into villages or towns
ಪಾಳ್ಯ	palya	hamlet	Gummanayakanapalya, Kanakanapalya
ಕೊಪ್ಪ	koppa	hamlet	Koppa, Shuntikoppa, Shiralkoppa
ಗುಡ್ಡ	gudda	hill	Kappathgudda, Bachingudda	Ancient hill top settlements which have moved to the base of the hill still retain the original name.
ಗಿರಿ	giri	hill	Madhugiri, Brahmagiri	These are usually ancient Hindu shrines or forts on hills. gudda, giri, betta, parvatha are types of hills.
ಬೆಟ್ಟ	betta	hill	Anjanadri Betta, Thenginkal Betta, Chamundi Betta	These are usually ancient Hindu shrines or forts on hills.
ಕೊಂಡ	konda	hill	Penukonda, Golconda	Forified hills or citadels.
ಗುಂದ	gund	hill	Navalgund, Naragund, Hunagund	the first and two places mentioned here are towns situated next to hills
ಕ್ರಾಸ್	cross	junction	Kibbanahalli Cross	a junction on a highway, one of the roads leading to a town or village, the junction grew into a permanent settlement
ಕೆರೆ	kere	lake	Arasikere, Davanagere, Tarikere	Probably these were originally settlements close to a lake and caught on to the name of the waterbody. 'gere' is another form of 'kere'.
ದೋಆಬ್	doab	land between two converging rivers	Raichur Doab	the term was used in Muslim kingdoms
ವಾಡಾ	wada	mansion	Dharawada, Koliwada, Yadwad
ಕಟ್ಟಿ	katti / gatti / katte	meeting platform	Yeragatti, Kurubagatti, Hunashikatti	Possibly ancient trading posts which convereted into permanent settlements. Hunashikatti litreally means 'tamrind platform'. Probably it was a tamrind market post once.
ಗುಂಟ	gunta	near	Yeragunta, Chintalakunta	gunta is a suffix to denote near, example- near the house. similarly it being suffixed to a landmark which becomes a name.
ಗೂಡು	gudu	nest	Nanjanagudu, Arkalagudu
ಗುಪ್ಪೆ	guppe	pile	Bidaraguppe, Vandaraguppe
ಗುಂಡಿ	gundi	pit	Anegundi, Kemmanagundi, Mavinagundi	A settlement near a large natural or man-made pit. Kemmangundi is actually Kempu Mannina Gundi means red soil pit. The place is a former iron ore mine, presenty a tourist spot.
ಕುಂಡಿ	kundi	pit?	Lakkundi, Yekkundi	probably a variation of gundi
ವಾಸಿ	vasi	resident	Banavasi
ಹೊಳೆ	holae	river or stream	Aihole, Yennehole, Naagarahole	places situated next to a river or a stream.
ಹಾಳ್	hal	ruins	Yerebudihal, Budihal, Pashupatihal, Kanginhal
ಸಮುದ್ರ	samudra	sea	Shivanasamudra
ಅಂಗಡಿ	angadi	shop	Beltangadi, Uppinangadi	probably the origin of the place can be traced to a shop that existed here
ಕೋಡಿ	kodi	sluice or outlet	Chikkodi	probably a settlement near a large lake with an outlet
ಕಲ್ಲು	kallu / gallu	stone	Pattadakallu, Kappagallu, Anekal, Watagal, Ilkal	A landmark stone or boulder would be the origin. Usually such places have a log history, often going back to Neolithic times. 'kallu' has variations such as kal, gal or gallu.
ಬಂಡೆ	bande	stone or boulder	Gudibande	probably a variation of kallu / gallu
ಕೇರಿ	keri	street	Hukkeri, Madikeri
ಊರು	ooru	town	Bengaluru, Mysuru, Tumkuru, Belur	ooru is one of the oldest and frequently heard suffix for place names
ಪೇಟೆ	pattana	town	Channapattana, Srirangapattana	looks like pattana has originaited in Mysuru kingdom
ಪಟ್ಟಣ	pete	town	Hosapete, Virajpete, Somwarpete
ನಗರ	nagar	town or city	Navanagar, Hosanagar, Vijayanagara
ಗಾಂ	gaon	village	Belgaon, Shiggaon, Madgaon	this form is usually found in north-west Karnataka, Goa and Maharastra
ಹಳ್ಳಿ	halli	village	Devanahalli, Tirthahalli
ವಳ್ಳಿ	valli	village	Malavalli	probably a form of halli
ಪಲ್ಲಿ	palli	village	Bagepalli,	palli is the older form of halli used mostly in border districts of Karnataka and mainly in Andhra Pradesh
ಬಾವಿ	bavi	well	Madanbavi, Amminabavi	places history points to a well, usually a large deep well
ಗದ್ದೆ	gadde	wet farm land	Mandagadde, Naradagadde	usually hamlets in a remote locations such as a jungle or an island
ಈಶ್ವರ್	eshwar		Sankeshwar, Muradeshwar, Laxmeshwara
ಲೈಮ್	lim		Bicholim, Sanquelim	effect of Portugese
ಮಂಗಳ	mangala		Nelamangala, Ayyamangala, Betamangala
ಸಾಂದ್ರ	sandra		Kyathasandra, Thimmasandra, Singasandra
ಗೋಡ್	god		Mundgod, Murgod
ಬೆನ್ನೂರ್	bennur		Ranibennur, Santhebennur, Motibennur
ಘಟ್ಟ	ghatta		Sidlaghatta, Bannerghatta

Besides this topic, you might like the article on Direction names in Kannada.

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