वेला

वेला f

1. Devanagari script form of velā (“time”)

Of unclear origin. Often thought to be borrowed from Dravidian. Descendants show l ~ r ~ ḍ variation or derive from an unattested variant *वीली (vīlī).^[1]

However, Mayrhofer considers the Dravidian terms to be borrowed from Indo-Aryan rather than vice versa, likely due to the word's presence in Vedic texts, and presents two possible etymologies:^[2]

1. Derived from वर्त्मन् (vartman, “track, course”) through a series of sound changes: वर्त्मन् (vartman) > *वृत्मा (vṛtmā) > *वेट्टा (veṭṭā) / *विट्टा (viṭṭā) > वेड (veḍa) > वेला (velā). Compare Old Church Slavonic врѣмѧ (vrěmę, “time”), which would be an exact semantic and etymological match. This is considered by Mayrhofer to be semantically appealing, but phonetically bold.

2. From Proto-Indo-Iranian *waižd- (“to raise”), itself of uncertain origin. Perhaps a distortion of Proto-Indo-European *wyedʰ- (“to shoot, take aim, hit, wound”) (see व्यध् (vyadh, “to pierce”) for more).^[3][4] Alternatively, a compound of an Indo-Iranian root (whose origins cannot be traced back to Proto-Indo-European) that also gave rise to वेष् (veṣ, “to work, accomplish, execute”)^[3] + Proto-Indo-Iranian *dʰaH- (“to put, place”), itself from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do, put, place”).^[5]

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /ʋɐj.lɑː/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /ˈʋeː.l̪ɑː/

वेला • (vélā) stem, f

1. time
2. time of day, occasion, interval
3. tide
4. boundary, threshold, limit, limen
5. coast, shore

• *सवेल (savela, “in time, early”) (see there for further descendants)

• Pali: velā
  • → Khmer: វេលា (veiliə)
  • → Thai: เวลา (wee-laa)
• Prakrit: 𑀯𑁂𑀮𑀸 (velā), 𑀯𑀻𑀮𑀻 (vīlī), *𑀯𑁂𑀭𑀸 (*verā), *𑀯𑁂𑀟𑀸 (*veḍā)
  • Assamese: বেলা (bela), বেলি (beli)
  • Bengali: বেলা (bela)
  • Malayalam: വേള (vēḷa)
  • Marathi: वेळ (veḷ)
  • Sylheti: ꠛꠦꠟꠣ (bela), ꠛꠣꠟꠣ (bala), ꠛꠦꠁꠟ (beil)
  • Punjabi: veḷā

    Gurmukhi script: ਵੇਲ਼ਾ

    Shahmukhi script: ویࣇا

• → Sinhalese: වේලාව (wēlāwa)
• → Kannada: ವೇಳೆ (vēḷe)
• → Tamil: வேளை (vēḷai)
• → Telugu: వేళ (vēḷa)
• → Indonesian: bila
• → Lao: ເວລາ (wē lā)

• Monier Williams (1899) “वेला”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, pages 1018/2-3.