''Note: For information on the transcription used, see National Library at Calcutta romanization. Exception from the standard are the

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

of Sinhala long "ä" () as "ää", and the non-marking of prenasalized stops.'' Sinhala words of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

origin came about during the period of Portuguese colonial rule in Sri Lanka between 1505–1658. This period saw rapid absorption of many Portuguese words into the local language brought about by the interaction between Portuguese colonials and the Sinhalese people, mainly in the coastal areas of the island. A wide variety of words were adopted from administrative terms to military terms, which reveals several points of contact between the two groups. In addition to influences on language, the Portuguese introduced the

Catholic religion The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

to Sri Lanka, various forms of western clothing and also contributed to the formation of

Baila Baila (also known as bayila; from the Portuguese verb ''bailar'', meaning ''to dance'') is a form of music, popular in Sri Lanka and among Goan Catholics. The genre originated centuries ago among the Portuguese Burghers and Sri Lankan Kaffirs. B ...

, a Sri Lankan form of music.

Types of loanwords

;Borrowings The words pertaining to the fields of

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, food and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

are the most numerous; this is to be expected because of many new innovations and goods that reached Sri Lanka via the Portuguese. However it is important to note that the range of borrowings goes beyond the scope to be expected for a situation where two neighbouring peoples exchange material goods: There are many Portuguese loanwords pertaining to everyday and social life (kinship terms, ordinary activities etc.). Additionally, many lexical words (

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...

s and

verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...

s) have also been borrowed.

The borrowing process

Portuguese loanwords in Sinhala rarely appear in the same form as the original word, the vast majority of them having undergone naturalisation. Usually, a word has undergone some kind of modification to fit into the Sinhala

phonological Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

(e.g. ''bandeja'' becomes ''bandesiya'' because the sound of the Portuguese /j/, does not exist in the Sinhala

phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...

inventory) or morphological system (e.g. ''lenço'' becomes ''lensuva'' because Sinhala inanimate nouns (see

grammatical gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all noun ...

) need to end with /a/, , in order to be

decline Decline may refer to: *Decadence, involves a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, or skill over time * "Decline" (song), 2017 song by Raye and Mr Eazi * ''The Decline'' (EP), an EP by NOFX *The Decline (band), Australian ...

able). These are the main ways Portuguese words are incorporated into the Sinhala lexicon with different endings: *With an /ma/ or /na/ or /va/ added to Portuguese words ending in /o/ (e.g. ''gancho'' > ''gāncuva''). *With an /aya/ or /uva/ added to Portuguese words ending in consonants (e.g. ''lençol'' > ''lensōluva''). *With a /ya/ added to words ending in /a/ or /e/ or /i/ (e.g. ''diamante'' > ''diyamantiya''). *With the animate ending /yā/ or /vā/ added to Portuguese words signifying living beings or (e.g. ''burro'' > ''būruvā''). Adjectives that end in vowels are generally preserved in the original form. There are over 150 words in the following list.

Proper Names

Many Sinhalese adopted Portuguese names, especially surnames. Some are very common (e.g. Perera, De Silva). The names, however, do not necessarily denote Portuguese ancestry or Christian religious affiliation, with many Buddhist Sinhalese having Portuguese-origin surnames, as Buddhism does not recognise the notion of

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

for not naming their children with names which do not originate from the

Pali language Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhis ...

External links

Portuguese words in Sinhala
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portuguese Loanwords In Sinhala Sinhala Sinhala words Lists of Sinhala words of foreign origin Portuguese language in Asia

Types of loanwords

The borrowing process

Proper Names

See also

External links