mudaliyar

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Tamil [Term?] (mutaliyār) (plural of mutali (chief)), in early forms probably via Portuguese modeliar.

Noun

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mudaliyar (plural mudaliyars)

  1. (now historical) A chief or headman in Sri Lanka. [from 17th c.]
    • 1969, Leonard Woolf, Journey Not Arrival Matters:
      He had been a Mudaliyar or Headman of East Giruwa Pattu [] when I was Assistant Government Agent there fifty years ago.
    • 2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 228:
      Other Mudliyars said they couldn't join in the first instance but would send on ‘Thieves and rogues (black guard fellows who certainly do abound).’
  2. (chiefly in form mudaliar) A high-status Tamil caste in India. [from 19th c.]