વાણિયો

Gujarati

FWOTD – 5 December 2023

Male Gujarati Vāṇiyās. (sense 1)

વાણિયો (sense 3)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Gujarati वाणीउ (vāṇīu), वाणीडु (vāṇīḍu), from Prakrit 𑀯𑀸𑀡𑀺𑀅𑀬 (vāṇiaya), from Sanskrit वाणिज (vāṇijá), from वणिज् (vaṇíj, “merchant, trader”).

Cognates

Bengali বেনে (bene), Marwari बांणयों (bā̃ṇyõ), Hindustani بنیا / बनिया (baniyā), Konkani वाणि (vāṇi), Punjabi بانِیاں (bānīyāṉ) / ਬਾਣੀਆ (bāṇīā), and Sindhi واڻِيو (vaṇyo).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Gujarati) IPA^(key): /ˈʋɑ.ɳi.jo/
• Rhymes: -o
• Hyphenation: વા‧ણિ‧યો

Noun

વાણિયો • (vāṇiyo) m

2. Bania (a member of the Bania caste)
3. (by extension, especially Hindu) merchant, trader
   • 2007, Shamal Bhatt, Hasu Yajnik, Rūpāvatī, page 29:

     યોડું આગળ ચાલ્યો કે તળાવ આવ્યું ! એનાં કાંઠે બેઠેલો ઘરો વાણિયો બોલ્યો: હું બીજાપુરનો વહાણવટી વાણિયો છું પણ વાંઝિયો છું.

     yoḍũ āgaḷ cālyo ke taḷāv āvyũ ! enā̃ kā̃ṭhe beṭhelo gharo vāṇiyo bolyo: hũ bījāpurno vahāṇavṭī vāṇiyo chũ paṇ vā̃jhiyo chũ.

     As he walked further he came across a pond! The merchant sat on the bank and said: ‘I am Bijapur’s overseas merchant, yet I am unsuccessful.’

5. dragonfly

Related terms

• વાણોતર (vāṇotar)

Descendants

• → Arabic: بُنْيَان (bunyān)
  • → Swahili: baniani
  • → Portuguese: baniano, baniane
    • → English: banyan
    • → Spanish: baniano

Further reading

• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “vāṇijá”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 670