Editing Alvars (section)

==Etymology==
{{Hinduism}}
The word ''Alvar'' has traditionally been etymologized as from Tamil ''Al'' (ஆழ்), 'to immerse oneself' as 'one who dives deep into the ocean of the countless attributes of god'.<ref name="Etymology">{{cite web| 
title=''Meaning of Alvar''
| publisher=ramanuja.org|
url=http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/alvars/|
access-date= 2007-07-02}}</ref>

The Indologist Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan has established<ref name="academia.edu">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/9668394|title=Āḻvār or Nāyaṉār: The Role of Sound Variation, Hypercorrection and Folk Etymology in Interpreting the Nature of Vaiṣṇava Saint-Poets|first=Sudalaimuthu|last=Palaniappan|journal=South-Indian Horizons |page=63 |via=www.academia.edu}}</ref> from epigraphy and textual evidence that the traditional term Āḻvār (ஆழ்வார்) for Vaiṣṇavaite Tamil poet saints has historically been a corruption of the original Āḷvār (ஆள்வார்). 

=== Correction of the original Āḷvār (ஆள்வார்) to Āḻvār (ஆழ்வார்) ===
Palaniappan<ref name="academia.edu" /> shows that what was originally Āḷvār (ஆள்வார்) meaning 'One who rules', or '(Spiritual) Master' got changed through [[hypercorrection]] and folk etymology to Āḻvār (ஆழ்வார்) meaning 'One who is immersed'. Palaniappan cites inscriptional evidence and even literary evidence from Vaishnavaite tradition itself for a gradual sound change from Āḷvār (ஆள்வார்) to Āḻvār (ஆழ்வார்) over a period of two centuries from the 9th to the 11th century involving references to religious leaders in Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and even Jainism and to political personalities. He states: "āḻvār is but a corrupt form of āḷvār which has been used interchangeably with nāyanār in secular and religious contexts in the Tamil land" and "... Notwithstanding the Vaiṣṇava claim of unbroken teacher-student tradition, the fact that Nāthamuni has used the form āļvār but Piļļān, a disciple and younger cousin of Rāmānuja, ended up using the form āḻvār suggests that there has been an error in transmission somewhere along the teacher-student chain between the two teachers. This error was obviously due to the influence of the sound variation that has occurred in the Srirangam area and elsewhere".

The original word ஆள்வார் compares with the epithet 'Āṇḍãḷ' (ஆண்டாள்) for the female canonized Vaishnava saint Gōdai (கோதை) and they share the same verb Tamil. āḷ (ஆள், to rule), the former being the honorific non-past (or present-future) form and the latter the feminine past form of that same verb.

=== Reception by scholars ===
Palaniappan's findings on 'Āḻvār' have been accepted by scholars like Prof. Alexander Dubyanskiy. In his article on Āṇṭāḷ, Dubyanskiy says,<ref>https://publications.efeo.fr/en/livres/820_the-archaeology-of-bhakti-i {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107232903/https://publications.efeo.fr/en/livres/820_the-archaeology-of-bhakti-i |date=7 January 2019 }} and http://www2.rsuh.ru/binary/object_40.1412591563.13923.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107124717/http://www2.rsuh.ru/binary/object_40.1412591563.13923.pdf |date=7 January 2019 }}</ref> "Āṇṭāḷ was among the twelve Āḻvārs, the poet-saints, adepts of Viṣṇu, canonized by the tradition, which accepted the interpretation of meaning of the word āḻvār as "submerged, plunged [in love for god]", from the verbal root āḻ, "to plunge, to be in the deep". But recently it was convincingly shown by S. Palaniappan (2004) that initially the term in question was represented by the word āḷvār (from the verbal root āḷ "to rule"), which reads as "those who rule, lords", and was applied in the texts, both Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava, to Śiva and Viṣṇu accordingly (pp.&nbsp;66–70). In the course of time the term underwent the process of sound variation, took the form āḻvār and acquired the folk etymology which was accepted and fixed by the tradition. This interpretation agrees well with the meaning of the poetess' nickname Āṇṭāḷ, which means "she who rules".