Was Tamil or Telugu first born from the Proto-Dravidian language?
Seshadri Sridharan
Question: Was Tamil or Telugu first born from the Proto-Dravidian language?
Answer: First of all, Proto-Dravidian is a linguistically reconstructed language to suggest a common origin for Dravidian languages.
Its created based on similarities within Dravidian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and others.
Like Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin used to reconstruct Proto-Indo European, Old Tamil is heavily used to reconstruct Proto-Dravidian language.
Why was Tamil used?
The reason why Tamil is called closet to PD is it has preserved 60–65% vocabularies from reconstructed PD.
Because Tamil was the only Dravidian language which has non-sanskritic, Indigenous, and continuous rich literary tradition for more than a two thousand years through state patronage by Tamil kings.
Though the actual answer to the question is Proto-Telugu.
Proto-Telugu is the first language born out of Proto-Dravidian .
