Crossword Genius

Language of the mid-century mail sorter (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tamil

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'language' is the definition.
(Tamil is an example)

'the mid-century mail sorter' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'mail' is 'amil' which is within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tamil that I've seen before include "South Indian people or language" , "Sri Lankan" , "Dravidian people of India and Sri Lanka" , "Perhaps Indian" , "Native of south India or Sri Lanka" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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