marAThI bELA (jasmine)

[Madhav Deshpande]

I have not known this word in Marathi in this sense.  Marathi words for
different varieties of jasmine are 'mogaraa', 'jaai', 'jui', and
'raat-raa.nii', and I have never heard bELA.
                                                Madhav Deshpande

On Fri, 29 Jan 1999, Swaminathan Madhuresan wrote:

> In Marathi language, bELA refers to jasmine flower.
>
> In KannaDa, we express
> `idu beLLagidE' for `this is white'; and
> `idu biLiya baNNa' for `this color is white'.
>
>  Note the jasmine is white in color, and KannaDa beLLe
> and Tamil veLLai means 'white' color.
>
> Then, is the jasmine `bELA' in Marathi related
> to the Dravidian root for white (beLLe, veLLai)?
>
> Does KannaDa and/or Telugu use `bELA/bEla' for mallige?
>
> Swaminathan Madhuresan
>
>
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