Old Malayalam & The Toponyms of Malabar
The old name of present day Kerala was Malayalam, meaning the land between of hills and sea. This name was originated out of the perspective of people from the top of the hills. In their perspective, the land was at the bottom of the hill lying between the hills and the sea. Aalam (ആലം) is an archaic word meaning sea or ocean as per page No. 289 of Malayalam lexicon named ശബ്ദതാരാവലി compiled by Sreekanteswaram G Padmanabha Pilla. The etymology of the word is not known. There is another word അളം which also gives the meaning "sea" or Ocean. This word also is archaic. Many of the toponyms of Malabar have "al" or "alam" as their prefix. Example: alamkod (ആലം കോട്), Aluva, (ആലുവ), Alathur (ആലത്തൂർ ), Ala (ആല) Most of these places are not far away from the coast. As per the lexicon "ലളയൊരഭേദം", both the syllable are acceptable or are used interchangeably. There are more than seventy toponyms on the coast of Malayalam with the prefix "aala...