Word · from the archive
vālā
A machine for making new words. Attach it to almost anything and you have an agent or an association: duddh-vālā the milkman, chāh-vālī the tea-seller, Amritsar-vālā the one from Amritsar. In the Lohri song it makes history: Dullā Bhaṭṭī vālā — “Dulla, the one of the Bhattis”. If a learner takes one word from that song, it should be this one.
suffix / postposition · the one of, the one who
Literal sense
The one of — belonging to, associated with, in the business of.
Pronunciation
/ʋäːläː/ — “WAH-lah”; feminine vālī, plural vāle
Etymology
From Sanskrit pālaka (“keeper”) through the Prakrits; shared with Hindi-Urdu vālā.
Etymological stream: Sanskritic
Cultural context
Feminine vālī, masculine plural vāle — it agrees like an adjective with the person it names.
In a sentence
ਦੁੱਧ ਵਾਲਾ ਆ ਗਿਆدُدھ والا آ گیاduddh vālā ā giā“the milkman has come”
Related words
Where this word appears on Punjabia
See also
ਦਾ دا dā — Punjabi’s other little word-machine — the possessive