Comments on: Vilayat

By: Benjamin Geer

Benjamin Geer — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:00:39 +0000

Vilayet is the Turkish pronunciation of the Arabic word wilāya (ولاية), which has various meanings, including "reign" and "province". It was used to refer to provinces of the Ottoman Empire; the governor of any of these provinces was called a wāli (والي). Nowadays, the Arabic word wilāya is still used to mean "province"; hence it's also used to refer to each of the states composing the United States, which are collectively called al-wilāyāt al-muttaḥida, (الولايات المتحدة). It can also mean a "term" of office (e.g. of a president).

By: Kiran

Kiran — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:17:22 +0000

I was also thinking that Vilayat may be the name of some town in England. But when I studied the detail map of U.K. I could not able locat this town. Afterwords during the study the map of Turkasthan I got this named town. Vilayat is the name of the town on the border of Asia and Europe, which is situated in Turkasthan. In old days ( before Wasco De Gamma came to India by way of sea) people from asian country, when travel to western countries like England and vice a versa, has to travel by way of land only. Vilayat was the last stop in their asian journey from India(Hidusthan) . Once they reached vilayat, it was assumed that they gone to western countries ( England perticularly). That’s why it has become phrase like went to Engaland means gone to Vilayat and England-returned means returned from Vilayat.

By: A shufti in Blighty « Kafr al-Hanadwa

A shufti in Blighty « Kafr al-Hanadwa — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:39:16 +0000

[...] the origin of “Blighty” in “vilayati” (also pronounced “belayti”) is pretty funny, because “vilayati” [...]

By: sepoy

sepoy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

bulleyah: OED credits Rudyard Kipling with the first usage in 1886: “From Sea to Sea (1899) II. 358 Let the town hear of the wonders which I have seen in Belait.”

By: nomadica

nomadica — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wilayat is a very common word in Oman. It means town/province. Once you drive out of Muscat, the capital city, you’ll find it appearing on sign boards a lot as you drive through different towns. The signs will say ‘Wilayat (Nameoftown) Welcomes You’.

By: Umar

Umar — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

And (what appears to me to be) the plural of the word, Awliyaat, or however you pronounce it, is used to refer to the States that make up the US… at least in all the Arabic news bulletins I’ve seen…

By: dacoit

dacoit — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

b: Fascinating philological investigations, it never occurred to me that blighty and vilayat were related. I always thought calling England ol' blighty was based on the same principle as the word we use for decaying cities - urban blight - and the degenerative disease that hits orange orchards - citrus blight. Little did I know that this was my own personal folk etymology (England was certainly a blight on South Asia for a while there though, so it works). Funnily enough, the title of my last post includes another related word, Wali (or Vali, 'w' and 'v' are pretty much interchangable), which taken literally means the person who has the Vilayat (or power). In the Sufi context the appellation means someone who is sort of a spiritual governor (mapping political upon religious authority), or also a friend or dear one (Valiullah=friend of God). If you check out Hobson-Jobson, in addition to Bilayut, they also have an entry for Bilayutee Pawnee, which literally means 'water from Vilayat', but refers specifically to soda water, which presumably was not in India before the limeys came over from blimey. (This all makes me thing of the fine institution of marble soda that continues in South Asia, upon which I will write a post at some point).

By: samir

samir — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

A godown is a warehouse or store for goods, from the Malay gadong.
Ref:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/malay.htm

By: poorva

poorva — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

All this from watching K N Singh in one of his best villain performances (matched only by his stint as the evil Jack in An Evening in Paris)! Sachmuch, yahaan jo chalti hai use gaadi kehte hain pyaare! Wonderful post, from blighty to vilayat to valiullah and back.

By: bulleyah

bulleyah — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

thanks for the fascinating link, samir. i was under the misapprehension, thanks to a teacher in junior school, that ‘godown’ actually came from the english ‘go down’, when they told the ntaives to get stuff up which was stored in the teh-khanas…

it’s wrong i know, but very very charming.

further on malaysia, i just finished reading this fascinatingbook called ‘the consumption of kuala lumpur’, by ziauddin sardar. you might like…

By: El Savior

El Savior — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

All that from a boring old hindi movie?!!!