Verandah

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(Redirected from Veranda)

A veranda is a large balcony on the level of a ground floor. In Australia, especially in warmer northern climates, the word may also be applied to similar upper floor balconies, especially on pubs. In Scotland, it is also used for the upper-floor balconies on many tenement buildings.

Colonial/Federation period domestic dwellings in Queensland and Northern New South Wales Australia are characterised by Verandahs, especially the Queenslander. They are also emblematic of the antebellum U.S. South.

1 Etymology
2 Trivia
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Etymology

Although it is fairly certain that this word came to English from an Indian language (probably the Bengali word barandah which refers to the open area around one's house), the ultimate origin of the word is far less clear.

There appear to be three major theories: 1. It originates from Sanskrit (or Prakrit) and spread to Europe from India during the colonial period. 2. It originates in Persian and became part of various North Indian languages sometime in the last 1000 years or so, wherafter it spread to Europe. 3. It originates in Iberia (Portuguese or Spanish) and spread through India and back to Britain during European colonization.

Portugal was the first European power to establish a permanent colony and mercantilist trading presence in India, after Vasco Da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India in 1498. However, the word "varanda" can be found (with no explanation of its meaning, suggesting it was a well established Portuguese word) in texts from that same year, namely Vasco da Gama's own travel log. In other words, it seems extremely unlikely that the word, as used in Portugal and Spain, was imported from an Indian language. It may have been the other way around, or the words may have evolved independently, perhaps from an older (unknown) common source.

More details can be found in the entry[1] for verandah in the Hobson-Jobson[2] Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words and Phrases.

The word "verandah" is also a common word in Malayalam (Spoken in Kerala, India). A verandah is a part of traditional architecture of Kerala. It is an open balcony in the front side or around the main structure, invariably covered supported by pillars.

[edit] Trivia

The British Indian comedy show Goodness Gracious Me made a skit about "Mr Everything Comes From India" sitting on the verandah with his son who remarked that it was a nice English summer afternoon. "Mr Everything Comes From India" then blew the lid as he insisted about how "the Queen's language" is rubbish because words like "verandah" and "shampoo" are really Indian words.