# Urdu/Hindi: Palle paRnaa



## Sheikh_14

Dear Foreros,

Whilst it is most certainly clear that palle paRnaa means to comprehend but how has it come to being? Platt's has this to say: H پلا पल्ला pallā [P. palla; S.पल+कः; पल्य, &c. rt. पल्; and पल्लव], s.m. Space, distance, reach, range (of a gun, &c.); a measure of capacity; a grain-bag, sack; burden (carried on the head or back), a weight of three maunds; side, protection, assistance (e.g. ḥākim uske palle-par hai); side, edge (of a garment, &c.), border; a sheet (generally applied to chintz or shaw); one of a pair of scales; one blade of a pair of shears, &c.; one shutter or fold (of a door); labium vulvœ:—

I would love to hear your input on this matter, to understand the etymological sense in its most in vogue connotation. Is it to bring something in your cognition range or rather in your balance's scale?

Best Regards,
Sheikh


----------



## marrish

*palle paRnaa* isn't unfortunately there above in the definition, is it?


----------



## Sheikh_14

No it is not, unfortunately Marrish SaaHib. Any Urdu speaker would understand what it means as the opening post suggests, I am merely interested here in the imagery at play.


----------



## littlepond

Never heard "palle paRnaa".


----------



## Sheikh_14

That's quite surprising you even hear it in Bollywood films never-mind the Urdu-Hindi divide in instances like the following "yeh baat mere palle nahiiN paR rahii ke aisaa howaa kaise" etc. That was just an example sentence and not a quote from a Bollywood film, a phrase however, with palle nahiiN paR rahaa was used in the film jab tak Hai jaan (quite recent) by the character akira.


----------



## mundiya

Sheikh_14 said:


> That's quite surprising ...



I'm surprised too. I've heard it. You have the right meaning in mind, and your explanation in the OP sounds plausible.  Here's the definition given in a Hindi dictionary.

palle paRnaa - to be familiar (e.g. a topic), to be understood by, to be married (women usage); ke palle paRnaa - to come into the keeping of, to be condemned to possess, to fall into the lot of.


----------



## littlepond

Sheikh_14 said:


> That's quite surprising you even hear it in Bollywood films never-mind the Urdu-Hindi divide in instances like the following "yeh baat mere palle nahiiN paR rahii ke aisaa howaa kaise" etc.



Ah sorry, my bad; my mind was elsewhere! Of course, in my family itself, we use "palle paRnaa" in sentences like "us ke baat palle hii nahiN paR rahii!"

I think my mind was in the zone of "allii-pallii" (allii taraf, pallii taraf - this side, that side), etc.


----------



## desi4life

littlepond said:


> Ah sorry, my bad; my mind was elsewhere! Of course, in my family itself, we use "palle paRnaa" in sentences like "us ke baat palle hii nahiN paR rahii!"



"baat" is feminine, so it's "us kii baat".


----------



## Englishmypassion

Usk*i* baat mere palle hi nhi parh rhi. = I'm not getting his/her point.
Usk*e* baat palle hi nhi parh rhi. = He/She is not getting the point.

I suspect this "uske" is colloquial/dialect, I'm not sure but I hear it said.


Otherwise you are right, desi4life, that "baat" is fefinine (probably because women are too fond of talking) and it is "uski baat" when "uski" is possessive.


----------



## Alfaaz

Entries in Feroz-ul-Lughaat: here.


			
				Englishmypassion said:
			
		

> Usk*i* baat mere palle hi nhi parh rhi. = I'm not getting his point.
> Usk*e* baat palle hi nhi parh rhi. = He/She is not getting the point.
> 
> I suspect this "uske" is colloquial/dialect, I'm not sure but I hear it said.


 It appears _uske_ (masculine) is being used to describe _palla_, which is also _masculine_. The word order could be changed to make this clear: _baat uske palle hii nahiiN paR rahii_.


----------



## littlepond

desi4life said:


> "baat" is feminine, so it's "us kii baat".



I didn't mean "us kii baat". Alfaaz jii has correctly deciphered my meaning.


----------



## Sheikh_14

So pallaa alone appears to mean reach/range according to Platts so perhaps pale paRnaa means to finally fall within your mental/intellectual reach? It can also mean one dish of a pair of scales, so perhaps to finally rest upon your psyche's scale, and thereby within your aptitude of comprehension. In either case, usage of the term appears to be figurative.


----------



## Qureshpor

Sheikh_14 said:


> So pallaa alone appears to mean reach/range according to Platts so perhaps pale paRnaa means to finally fall within your mental/intellectual reach? It can also mean one dish of a pair of scales, so perhaps to finally rest upon your psyche's scale, and thereby within your aptitude of comprehension. In either case, usage of the term appears to be figurative.


It seems, a "pallaa" is same as a "palluu". In Urdu LuGhat "palle paRnaa" has three basic meanings.

Urdu Lughat

1. milnaa, Haasil honaa, Hisse meN aanaa, haath lagnaa

e.g din bhar kii shadiid miHnat ke ba3d shaam ko ujrat meN ek ek rupaiyah palle paRaa

2. zaujiyyat meN aanaa [shaadii honaa]

e.g Man Sukhii, baRii bhaagii hai, jo tujh se nir-dhan ke palle paRii

3. zimme 3aa'id honaa

e.g us kii vahii liyaaqateN is bhaarii zimmah-daarii ke ham-pallah thiiN jo us ke palle aa paRii thiiN

See also palle bandhnaa/baandhnaa

Nowdays one often hears something like..

us kii ek bhii baat mere palle nah paRii implying I could n't follow/understand anything he said.


----------



## Sheikh_14

Qureshpor said:


> It seems, a "pallaa" is same as a "palluu". In Urdu LuGhat "palle paRnaa" has three basic meanings.
> 
> Urdu Lughat
> 
> 1. milnaa, Haasil honaa, Hisse meN aanaa, haath lagnaa
> 
> e.g din bhar kii shadiid miHnat ke ba3d shaam ko ujrat meN ek ek rupaiyah palle paRaa
> 
> 2. zaujiyyat meN aanaa [shaadii honaa]
> 
> e.g Man Sukhii, baRii bhaagii hai, jo tujh se nir-dhan ke palle paRii
> 
> 3. zimme 3aa'id honaa
> 
> e.g us kii vahii liyaaqateN is bhaarii zimmah-daarii ke ham-pallah thiiN jo us ke palle aa paRii thiiN
> 
> See also palle bandhnaa/baandhnaa
> 
> Nowdays one often hears something like..
> 
> us kii ek bhii baat mere palle nah paRii implying I could n't follow/understand anything he said.


 So is the idea here that pallaa derives from a part of the saarii I.e. palluu and thereby for something to wrapped around you and thence within your command? I have come across pallaa bandhnaa but not entirely sure as in what it idiomatically represents. Would it mean to tie the pallaa and thereby obtain a grasp of something or to tie someone in a relationship I.e. by knotting them together, depending upon context?


----------



## Qureshpor

Sheikh_14 said:


> So is the idea here that pallaa derives from a part of the saarii I.e. palluu and thereby for something to wrapped around you and thence within your command? I have come across pallaa bandhnaa but not entirely sure as in what it idiomatically represents. Would it mean to tie the pallaa and thereby obtain a grasp of something or to tie someone in a relationship I.e. by knotting them together, depending upon context?


Sheikh SaaHib, you have come back to my post over eight months later!

"pallaa" can be linked to "aaNchal", "daaman", "chaadar", "dopaTTah" and "saarii!.

Take yourself back in time when one did not necessarily carry handbags, wallets and other such containers to put something in. If you, as a male, were wearing a "dhotii" or a "tahband" and I gave you some money, you would n't carry it in your "muTThii" while on a journey but you would get hold of a corner of your "dhotii/tahband" and wrap the money in a knot and tuck it in. This would amount to "palle baaNdhnaa". The ladies would do the same using part of their attire. You can see how one then gets "palle paRnaa" etc. Speak to you in a year's time!


----------

