Kerala Languages

The term ‘Malayalam’ as referring to the language of Kerala is of comparatively recent origin. To begin with, it denoted the land itself. It is probable that the term is the resultant of a combination of two words, mala meaning mountain and alam meaning the land or locality (which lies along side the mountain).Subsequently the synonyms Malayanma and Malayayma came into being as denoting the language of the Malayalam county and finally the name of the land itself was taken over as the name of its language.