Wallah, or -walla or -wala or -vala (-wali fem.), is a suffix used in a number of Indo-Aryan languages, like Hindi/Urdu, Gujarati, Bengali or Marathi. It forms an adjectival compound from a noun or an agent noun from a verb. [1] For example, it may indicate a person involved in some kind of activity, where they come from or what they wear (Topiwala), [2] [3]
Examples of such uses include:
In British military jargon of the first half of the 20th century, a "base wallah" is someone employed at a military base, or with a job far behind the front lines. [6] There were a number of other words of this type, such as "camel wallah" and "machine-gun wallah", [7] and more in the Notes and Queries cited. "Base wallah" had a derogatory reference for a person who is seldom seen at the front lines during major attacks, pretending to be sick. [8]
Ian McDonald has a short story, "Sanjeev and Robotwallah" (2007), and there is a character named General Robotwallah in the 2010 novel For the Win by Cory Doctorow. Here "robotwallah" refers to the pilot of a mecha.
Wala or Vala was also used in Parsi and Dawodi Bohra surnames, suggesting the profession or a place name. For example:
Wala is also used to indicate a specific object or thing among several:
These uses of wallah should not be confused with the Arabic : وَٱللّٰه, romanized: wal-lāh, lit. 'by God'. [10]
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The dictionary definition of wallah at Wiktionary