Wallah
Wallah, or -wala or -vala (wali fem.), derived from Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi or Hindustani ওয়ালা वाला والا -vālā (suffix forming an adjectival compound with a noun or an agentive sense with a verb),[1] an Indian surname or suffix indicating a person involved in some kind of activity, where they come from or what they wear (Topiwala),[2][3] for example:
- Dabbawala, lunch box deliverer
- Chaiwala, a boy or young man who serves tea
- Rickshawala, a rickshaw driver
- Punkawallah, the servant who keeps the punkah or fan going on hot nights
- Lep wallah, a cotton carder
Wala or Vala was also used in Parsi and Bohra surnames, suggesting the profession or a place-name. For example:
- Amroliwala
- Daruwalla, seller of daru or Persian for wine
- Mithaiwala, sweetseller [4]
Wala is also used to indicate a specific object or thing among several.
- chota wala, the small one
- dusra wala, the second one
- agla wala, the next one
See also
- -wal, a related suffix
References
- R. S. McGregor, ed. (1997). The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 915. ISBN 978-0-19-864339-5.
- Clements, J. Clancy (1996). The Genesis of a Language: The formation and development of Korlai Portuguese. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 139–. ISBN 978-90-272-7618-6.
- Barz, Richard Keith; Siegel, Jeff (1988). Language Transplanted: The Development of Overseas Hindi. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 165–. ISBN 978-3-447-02872-1.
- Anand (February 5, 2006). "Reflections of a language-wala". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2014-05-17.
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