Al-Biruni (973–1048 CE) is the first known writer to call this country Malabar. The name Male is thought to come from the Malayalam word Mala ('hill'). This mentions a pepper emporium called Male, which clearly gave its name to Malabar ('the country of Male'). The first element of the name, however, is attested already in the Topography written by Cosmas Indicopleustes. From the time of Cosmas Indicopleustes (6th century CE) itself, the Arab sailors used to call Kerala as Male. Until the arrival of the East India Company, the term Malabar was used as a general name for Kerala, along with the term Kerala. The people of Malabar were known as Malabars. Earlier, the term Malabar had also been used to denote Tulu Nadu and Kanyakumari which lie contiguous to Kerala in the southwestern coast of India, in addition to the modern state of Kerala. Kerala was usually known as Malabar in the foreign trade circles in the medieval era. The language Malayalam is alternatively called Alealum, Malayalani, Malayali, Malabari, Malean, Maliyad, Mallealle, and Kerala Bhasha. The term originally referred to the land of the Chera dynasty, and only later became the name of its language. The word Malayalam originated from the words mala, meaning ' mountain', and alam, meaning ' region' or '-ship' (as in "township") Malayalam thus translates directly as 'the mountain region'. 4 Geographic distribution and population.The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785. The modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book Kerala Panineeyam written by A. It bears high similarity with the Tigalari script, a historical script that was used to write the Tulu language in South Canara, and Sanskrit in the adjacent Malabar region. The current Malayalam script is based on the Vatteluttu script, which was extended with Grantha script letters to adopt Indo-Aryan loanwords. The earliest script used to write Malayalam was the Vatteluttu script. The oldest literary work in Malayalam, distinct from the Tamil tradition, is dated from between the 9th and 11th centuries. It is generally agreed that the Quilon Syrian copper plates of 849/850 CE is the available oldest inscription written in Old Malayalam. A second view argues for the development of the two languages out of "Proto-Dravidian" or "Proto-Tamil-Malayalam" in the prehistoric era, although this is generally rejected by historical linguists. The mainstream view holds that Malayalam descends from early Middle Tamil and separated from it sometime after the c. Malayalam was designated a " Classical Language of India" in 2013. Due to Malayali expatriates in the Persian Gulf, Malayalam is also widely spoken in the Gulf countries. Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states with significant number of speakers in the Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, and Nilgiris and Kanyakumari, districts of Tamil Nadu. Malayalam has official language status in Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé), and is spoken by 34 million people worldwide. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India and is spoken by 2.88% of Indians. Malayalam ( / ˌ m æ l ə ˈ j ɑː l ə m/ Malayalam: മലയാളം, Malayāḷam ?, ( listen)) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. A Malayalam speaker, recorded in South Africa