The story
- Tibetan · borrowed fromཐོམ ཐོམ
- Malayalam · borrowed fromതം തം
- Tamil · borrowed fromதம் தம்
- Sinhalese · borrowed fromටම් ටම්
- Bengali · borrowed fromটমটম
- Gujarati · borrowed fromટમટમ
- Punjabi · borrowed fromਟਮ ਟਮ
- Hindi · borrowed fromटमटम“the sound of a drum”
- English todaytom-tom
From Hindi टमटम (ṭamṭam, “the sound of a drum”), and similar terms in related or nearby languages (as Punjabi ਟਮ ਟਮ (ṭam ṭam), Gujarati ટમટમ (ṭamṭam), Bengali টমটম (ṭomṭom), Sinhalese ටම් ටම් (ṭam ṭam), Tamil தம் தம் (tam tam), Malayalam തം തം (taṁ taṁ), Tibetan ཐོམ ཐོམ (thom thom)); ultimately of onomatopoeic origin, with reduplication. Early evidence is from Anglo-Indian sources.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.