Editing Chettiar (section)

== Etymology ==
Chettiar/Chetty is derived from the [[Sanskrit]] word {{IAST|Śreṣṭha}} ([[Devanagari]]: श्रेष्ठ) or {{IAST|Śreṣṭhin}} ([[Devanagari]]: श्रेष्ठीन्), meaning superior. This term was later [[Prakrit]]ised as {{IAST|Seṭhī}} ([[Devanagari]]: सेठी), and eventually became {{IAST|Śeṭ}} ([[Devanagari]]: शेट) or {{IAST|Śeṭī}} ([[Devanagari]]: शेटी) in modern Indo-Aryan dialects.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jalal |first=Ayesha |title=Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia: A Comparative and Historical Perspective |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mHPok4epvlIC&q=South+india |year=1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-47862-5 |page=204}}</ref><ref name="Raychaudhuri">{{cite book |first1=Tapan |last1=Raychaudhuri |first2=Irfan |last2=Habib |author-link2=Irfan Habib |title=The Cambridge Economic History of India: c.1200–c.1750 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-s8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA26 |year=1982 |publisher=Cambridge University Press Archive |isbn=978-0-521-22692-9 |pages=27–28}}</ref>

In early Indian literature, the term referred to a wealthy class of merchants associated with the Vysya varna.<ref>{{citation |date=1909 |volume=12 |title=The Dawn and Dawn Society's Magazine |publisher=Lall Mohan Mullick |location=Calcutta |page=91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7Q5AQAAIAAJ&q=chettiar}}</ref>