> The Raj, in turn, imported 'wallah' from the Arabic 'walad', meaning
> 'boy' and pronounced colloquially as 'wallah'.
I suspect it is more likely to have come from the Hindi word 'Waala', which
is often used with a noun to describe someone doing a job - punkha waala,
etc.
Of course, the Hindi and Arabic words may well have common roots.
Prit
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|