Medraspatnam, Madraspatnam, Maddaraspatan, Madrazpatam, Madrespatnam, Maddaras, Madras (1653), Madrespatan, Madrispatnam and Maderas or Madirass.
These are the names, according to historian S Muthiah, Madras has been known as depending on who is talking about the city. The settlers include British, French, Dutch, and Portuguese.
As you see, the variations are on the name Madras. But why Madras? The word is connected neither to Tamil nor to English.
Muthiah, in his book Madras Rediscovered, presents some interesting theories.
- Near the factory site that Day — the man known as the founder of the Madras — started, there was a tiny village called Madarasanpatnam. This village was often visited by two French Capuchin priests, and the headman of the village was a Roman Catholic named Madarasan (In Tamil, Madham means Faith, or Maatha means mother (holy). So Mada+Raja = Madarasa — Head of the Faith.
- Another theory is that the kuppam (village) was established by “fisherfolk who were parishioners of the Madre de Deus Church at San Thome” . And Madras is the name adapted from the church’s name. The church name comes from a wealthy Portuguese family Madra or Madera or Madeiros who were quite influential in the village as they were one of the early settlers. This theory seems to be the popular one.
- The third theory is the name Madras is derived from “the Persian word madarasa, which means muslim school. Some say the muslims settled only in the latter half of the 18th century while some records indicate muslim raids since the time of East India Company.
- The last theory is where one writer explains in the chronicle of Nawabs of the Carnatic, the name Makhraskuppam which is derived from Marakkayar-kuppam (Marakkayar — from Arab markab = which means marakalam(ship) in Tamil)).
Bonus: Madras, Oregon (USA) got its ‘accidental’ name from the imprint on a bolt of cloth made in Madras, India, a city which was popular then for commerce and trade.
Most of the text in this post is adapted from the book Madras Rediscovered by S Muthiah
Image — https://housing.com/oldblog/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/1024px-Fort_St._George_Chennai.jpg
