Where does “vāifale” come from?

vāifale (Tokelauan) comes from Tokelauan fale, from Proto-Polynesian fale, from Proto-Oceanic pale, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian balay, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian balay, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian balay, from Proto-Austronesian balay — house; hall.

vāifale (Tokelauan): space between houses

Definitions

  1. space between houses

Ancestry of “vāifale”, step by step

vāifale traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Tokelauan fale

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Tokelauanfalehouse
2Proto-Polynesianfalehouse
3Proto-Oceanicpalehouse adobe
4Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesianbalay
5Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesianbalay
6Proto-Malayo-Polynesianbalayhouse; hall
7Proto-Austronesianbalayhouse; hall

via Tokelauan

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Tokelauanspace between two objects
Every word from Proto-Austronesian balay