वाल

वाल m

1. Devanagari script form of vāla (“hair”)

वाल

1. Devanagari script form of vāla (“malicious”)

• बाल (bāla)
• वार॑ (vā́ra) — Vedic

Likely cognate with Lithuanian valai̇̃ (“hair of the tail”), with further origin of the terms uncertain.^[1] Mayrhofer tentatively supports two theories:^[2]

• An l-form derivative of the root वृ (vṛ, “to cover, ward off”), referring to the tail as a "(fly [insect]) repeller". This would exclude a relation with the Lithuanian term, however.
• Derived from a Proto-Indo-European *ul (“tail”), presumably via Proto-Indo-Aryan *wālás, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wālás, with *ul perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn”) (which itself may be equivalent to the first theory). Latin *ulos (“tail”) (attested in adūlor (“to fawn, flatter”)) is often compared, though the presumed connection has been disputed.

Older theories, such as by Przyluski, tentatively took the word to be of Austroasiatic origin; compare Vietnamese vải (“cotton”), Lao ຝ້າຍ (fāi, “cotton”) (a borrowing from Vietic). However, the proper Proto-Austroasiatic root is *k-rn-pas, whence Sanskrit कर्पास (karpā́sa, “cotton”) (through Munda), so this hypothesis is untenable.^[1]

• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /ʋɑː.l̪ɐ/

वाल • (vāla) stem, m

1. the tail of an animal
2. the hair of the tail
3. any hair of an animal
4. bristles

• Monier Williams (1899), “वाल”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 946, column 1.