The word madhesh is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit मध्य देश madhya desh meaning middle country, which refers to "the central region, the country lying between the Himalayas of Nepal and the Vindhya mountains" of India [REF].
The Urdu word tarāʼī means "lands lying at the foot of a watershed" or "on the banks of a river; low ground flooded with water, valley, basin, marshy ground, marsh, swamp; meadow" [REF].