Ritual Offering, Sesame Seeds & Links Between Ancient Sumer and India
How using sesame seeds recently as part of my amavasya (day of the new moon) ritual
made me ponder on ancient Sumer's links to ancient Bharat/ India
Sesame Plays An Important Role In Indian Cuisine & Customs
The sesame is believed to the earliest oil seed grown by humankind. It is called 'ellu' in Tamil (pronounced Tamizh) and other south Indian languages. It is called 'Til' in Sanskrit, Hindi in most other northern Indian languages. We know that the oil extracted from sesame seeds is used for cooking and for lighting lamps in Indian homes and temples.
A Proper Noun Becomes A Common Noun/ Generic Term
What many of us may not easily notice is that the sesame has given birth to the generic term for oil in many Indian languages. 'Ellu' in Tamil (or Tamizh) or 'Til' in Hindi, has given the generic word for any oil 'Ennai' and 'Thail'.
Exports and Etymology
While doing a little research on a few ancient cultures (only ancient Bharat sadly survives), one learnt that ancient Sumer used the very same words for sesame seeds and oil as used in Tamil. This could be because ancient Tamizhakam (land of the Tamils) possibly exported sesame (along with other stuff) to south-east Asia, the middle east and Europe.
Ellu, Ennai & Sumer
If the above had been the only reason, then a few of these cultures ought to have had words for sesame/ oil that resembles the Tamil word 'Ellu' and 'Ennai' respectively. This does not seem to have happened, unless I am mistaken.
Now that makes me wonder about another possibility. Maybe a subject for another post.
