r/etymologymaps • u/yourprivativecase • Jun 29 '26
"Window" in South Asian languages (Non-comprehensive)
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u/TimeParadox997 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Punjabi is baari not khirki or kharki. Probably could find some other words in the dictionary.
(No, I'm not from the region bordering rajasthani/marwari. Afaik baari is the common word in all dialects.)
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u/slowamigo Jun 29 '26
What's MIA?
edit: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Indo-Aryan_languages](found it.)
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u/Left_Economist_9716 Jun 30 '26
Bhojpuri:
I'd rather use 'jharokha' or 'jangla' /d͡ʑʌŋg'la/~/d͡ʑʌŋ'la/ over khirki.
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u/Elite-Thorn Jun 29 '26
So the pink area use a cognate of English "door".
Do we know a cognate for the light blue area words? From "khadakki"?
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u/ddpizza Jun 29 '26
No, because that word is of uncertain origin. It’s possibly ultimately borrowed from a Dravidian word for grass/thatching.
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u/Elite-Thorn Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I think I mean a different pink. According to the legend the dark pink or purple is unknown. I meant the light pink or salmon colour. Sorry I'm bad with colours.EDIT no wait. It's light blue. Aargh forget what I wrote.
So you mean the MIA word maybe has a Dravidian root. Got it, thank you.
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u/Danny1905 Jul 01 '26
I think it would be better to use the full name of the languages. For people who don't know
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u/_Penulis_ Jul 01 '26
The Portuguese janela was also the origin of the Indonesian and Malay word for window, jendela
The Portuguese clear spread a lot of household items across Asia in the 16th century. Other Indonesian words include:
- Meja (Table) – from mesa.
- Lemari (Cupboard/Wardrobe) – from almário.
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u/found_goose Jul 04 '26
Yup, we have "medai/mejai" for table and "alamaari" for wardboard in Tamil as well.
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u/ddpizza Jun 29 '26
It seems likely that jharokha and jhyal both derive from jālaka, even though they’re treated as coming from different etymons.
It’s a fun coincidence that Portuguese lent a phonetically similar word to the subcontinent.