Sri Lankan place name etymology is characterized by the linguistic and ethnic diversity of the island of
Sri Lanka through the ages and the position of the country in the centre of ancient and medieval sea
trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a sing ...
s. While typical Sri Lankan placenames of
Sinhalese origin vastly dominate,
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
s which stem from
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
,
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
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 ...
and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
also exist. In the past, the many composite or hybrid place names and the juxtaposition of Sinhala and Tamil placenames reflected the coexistence of people of both language groups. Today, however, toponyms and their
etymologies are a source of heated political debate in the country as part of the political struggles between the majority
Sinhalese and
minority Sri Lankan Tamils.
Morphological structure of place names
The
morphological structure of Sri Lankan place names by and large depends on the language. Sinhala and Tamil favour transparent
compound
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...
s involving geological features combined with an animal or plant, while the European languages are more person centered and derive place names from saints or nobility or army.
Sinhalese
Place names of Sinhala origin, have a typical X+Y structure, where Y is a geographical feature such as
''mountain'', ''river'' or ''village''
and X is a qualifier, like an animal or plant often found at that place, or otherwise associated with it. Examples for this are
* singha+pitiya "lion place"
* weli+gama "sand village"
*
monara+gala "peacock rock".
Commonly used trees in village names are ''pol'' (
coconut) and ''Kitul'' (palm), among others.
The X part can be complex as in
*
kiri bath goda = milk rice village
The X part can also refer to social concepts like
caste. Examples for this are ''waduwa'' (carpenter), ''batta'' (lower caste settlement), ''ambataya'' (barber), ''aruwa'' (
potter), ''goviya'' (
farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...
), ''bamuna'' (
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
) and ''Villiya'' (
Rodiya
Rodi or Rodiya are reported to be an untouchable social group or caste amongst the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka. Their status was very similar to all the Untouchable castes of India with segregated communities, ritualised begging, economically wea ...
).
[Gnanaprakasar, ''A Critical History of Jaffna'', p. 33]
Besides the Y parts already mentioned, other commonly used land usage forms are ''Kumbura'' (paddy fields), ''Deniya'', ''watte'' (garden), ''pola'', ''gama'' (village), and ''Hena'' (cultivated lands). Grasslands were termed as ''talava'' and tree groves were termed ''golla''. Village tanks were called ''pokuna'' or ''katuwa''. Irrigation tanks were called ''wewa''. Canals from such lakes were called ''aala''. Flat lands were termed ''botha''. Ports were termed ''tota''. Names of flower gardens belonging to
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
establishments end with ''uyana''.
Tamil
Place names of Tamil origin, like Sinhala origin, also have a typical X+Y structure.
[
The place names are simple and descriptive; they reflect criteria normal to early societies and are related to the concepts and outlooks of people of those times. The majority of the place names can be listed under caste and occupational, landforms, land classifications, coastal features, irrigation works, fields and farms, trees, animals, names of deities, personal names, old, new, big, small, good, settlement and village.][Kularatnam, "Tamil Place Names in Ceylon outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces", p. 483]
The X-part in Tamil place names is often one of the following: The commonly used trees are ''Vembu, Panai'' (palm) and ''Illupai''. Commonly used animals and birds are ''Anai'' (elephant), ''Puli'' (tiger), and ''Kuranku'' (monkey). Other notable classifications are deities such as '' Amman'', ''Andi'', ''Kali
Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tra ...
'' and '' Pillaiyar''.[Kularatnam, "Tamil Place Names in Ceylon outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces", p. 484–492]
The commonly used caste or ethnic titles in Tamil are '' Chetty, Vannan'' and '' Demala''.
As for the Y-part, the commonly used landforms ''Mulai or Mulla'' (corner), ''Malai or Male'' (mountain), ''Aru'' (creek), ''Kuda'' (bay) ''Manal'' (sandy place), ''Kuli'' (depression), ''Tivu'' (island), ''Pallam'' (depression) and ''Ur'' or ''uruwa'' (village).[ Land classification are ''Tottam'' (garden), ''Kudal'' (bay), ''Puval, Kadu'' (forest), ''Munai'' or ''Mune'' (front), ''Karai'' (coast) and ''Turai'' or ''Ture'' (port). Irrigation and agriculture classifications are ''Kulam'' or ''Kulama'' (tank), reflecting the most common village name endings in ]Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central ...
and Puttalam
Puttalam ( si, පුත්තලම, translit=Puttalama; ta, புத்தளம், translit=Puttaḷam) is the largest town in Puttalam District, North Western Province, Sri Lanka. Puttalam is the administrative capital of the Puttalam Di ...
districts,[ ''Kinaru'' (well), ''Kani'' (allotment), ''Vayal'' (paddy field), ''Vaikkal'' (canal) and ''Eri'' (tank).
]
Portuguese
The Portuguese, who came to the island in 1505 and left in 1658, often gave names of Saints to whom the churches in the vicinity were dedicated. ''San Sebastian Hill'' and ''St. Joseph's Road'' are examples of these and ''Milagiriya'' had the church of Our Lady of Miracles (''milagre'' in Portuguese).
A name like "Grand Pass", a northern suburb of Colombo, is the English rendering of "Grande Passo", the name of a ferry established by the Portuguese, to cross the Kelani River.
Point Pedro
Point Pedro ( ta, பருத்தித்துறை, translit=Paruttittuṟai; si, පේදුරු තුඩුව, translit=Pēduru Tuḍuva) is a town, located in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka, at the northernmost point of the island.
...
and Mount Pedro are also place names with the name of a Portuguese person as a component, although they might have been coined by the British.
The Portuguese language furthermore was an important step stone for the English terms used today, the British would often use Portuguese names and adapt them, rather than taking the original form. An example for this is Batticaloa, and Ceylon itself.
Dutch
The Dutch ruled maritime provinces from 1658-1796. Amongst their legacy place names of Dutch origin although not many are still significant. For example, ''Hulftsdorp'' which is Dutch for 'Hulft's Village' and named after the Dutch general Gerard Pietersz. Hulft.
Among the other place-names in Colombo which are of Dutch origin may be included ''Bloemendahl'' (Vale of Flowers) and ''Wolvendahl'' (Vale of Wolves). The latter was known as 'Guadelupe' by the Portuguese, which the Dutch took to mean 'Agua de lupe' which they translated accordingly. It is still known as 'aadelippu' in Sinhala and Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
.
The ''Beira lake'' in Colombo probably takes its name from De Beer who is believed to have been an engineer in charge of the Dutch water defenses. A
granite plaque inscribed with the words 'De Beer 1700' recovered from an old Dutch sluice which controlled the flow of water from the lake has altered the hitherto accepted view that the lake takes its name from the Portuguese ''beira'' meaning 'bank or edge (of a lake)'.
The ' Maliban' biscuit brand gets its name from the Maliban Hotel, which AG Hinni Appuhamy started at Maliban St, Pettah
Pettah may refer to:
* Pettah of Ahmednagar, a fortified town outside the Fort of Ahmednagar stormed by British soldiers in 1803 during Second Anglo-Maratha War
* Pettah, Colombo, a neighborhood in Colombo, Sri Lanka located east of the City centr ...
(now AG Hinniappuhamy Mawatha) - originally Maliebaan Straat, named for Maliebaan
or ('pallamaglio' in Italian, Middle French for 'mallet game', or sometimes interpreted as 'straw game') is an ancient outdoor game, originally from Naples, which gave rise to numerous modern sports, such as golf, croquet, hockey and its variatio ...
, the Pall Mall alley in Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
. Leyn Baan Street in Galle
Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...
is from 'lijnbaan', meaning 'rope walk' or 'ropery'.
The Dutch also christened the islands of Jaffna in remembrance of Dutch towns, such as '' Hoorn, Delft, Leiden, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Middelburg and Enkhuizen'', but these names (with the exception of Delft) have all but disappeared and have been replaced by their local Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
names.
English
The British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
who followed the Dutch left many place names within the capital Colombo city, like streets, squares and quarters, but their influence on larger geographical features like towns is limited. Within Colombo, many of the place names have a British royal connotation, such as ''Queen's Street, Prince Street, Duke Street''. The quarters Fort, Cinnamon Gardens
Cinnamon Gardens ( si, කුරුඳු වත්ත ''Kurundu Vaththa'', ta, கறுவாத் தோட்டம்) is an affluent neighbourhood in Colombo, Sri Lanka located 3 kilometers south-east from Colombo's centre. Cinnamon Gar ...
, Slave Island
Slave Island ( si, කොම්පඤ්ඤ වීදිය, ta, கொம்பனித்தெரு) also known as Kampong Kertel and Kompanna Veediya is a suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka, located directly south of the Fort. The suburb contain ...
and Mount Lavinia
Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia ( si, දෙහිවල-ගල්කිස්ස, translit=Dehivala-Galkissa; ta, தெஹிவளை-கல்கிசை, translit=Tehivaḷai-Kalkicai), population 245,974 (2012) is the largest suburb of the City of ...
carry English names, next to the native ones.
Outside of Colombo, English influence can be found in the tea planting region with the towns of Hatton
Hatton may refer to:
Places Canada
* Hatton, Saskatchewan
England
* Hatton, Cheshire West and Chester, a former civil parish
* Hatton, Derbyshire
* Hatton, Lincolnshire
* Hatton, London, in the London Borough of Hounslow
* Hatton, Shropshire, a ...
and Dalhousie, and several estates such as ''Devon'',''Kenilworth'', ''Middleton'', ''Somerset'', ''Usk Valley'' and ''Wavenden''. Scots English is also widely represented by place names such as ''Blinkbonnie'', ''Holyrood'', ''Lauderdale'', ''Melfort'' and ''Sutherland''.
Horton Plains
Horton Plains National Park ( si, හෝර්ටන් තැන්න ජාතික උද්යානය, Hortan Thanna Jathika Udyanaya) is a national park in the central highlands of Sri Lanka that was designated in 1988. It is locate ...
were named for Sir Robert John Wilmot-Horton, the Governor of Ceylon {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019
The Governor of Ceylon can refer to historical vice-regal representatives of three colonialism, colonial powers:
Portuguese Ceylon
* List of Captains of Portuguese Ceylon (1518–1551)
* List of Captain-majors of ...
, who adopted the surname of his wife, Anne Beatrix Horton. Horton Place in Colombo is also named for him.
Gaelic
Scottish planters named many of the areas they planted after Gaelic place names from Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. Examples are Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, Balmoral, Clyde, Culloden, Frotoft, Kinross, Perth and Strathspey.
Malay
Ja-Ela
Ja-Ela ( si, ජා-ඇල, ta, ஜா-எல) is a suburb of Colombo, located approximately north of the Colombo city centre. Ja-Ela lies on the A3 road which overlaps with the Colombo – Katunayake Expressway at the Ja-Ela Interchange.
E ...
, Javanese Canal
Algonquian
Probably the only American Indian place name in Sri Lanka is Rappahannock, in Uda Pussellawa. It comes from the Rappahannock River
The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the entir ...
in Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, itself originating from an Algonquian word, lappihanne (also recorded as toppehannock), meaning "river of quick, rising water" or "where the tide ebbs and flows," the name used by the local native population, the Rappahannock tribe.
Vedda
The common word ''Gala'' for stones found in Sinhalese is considered to be a borrowing from indigenous Vedda language
Vedda is an endangered language that is used by the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. Additionally, communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas who do not strictly identify as Veddas also use words from the Vedda language in par ...
. It is used in Toponyms
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
found throughout the island.
Arabic
Place names in Arabic also exist throughout scattered pockets in Sri Lanka where substantial populations of Sri Lankan Moors reside. According to the location Arabic place names are often mixed with Sinhala or Tamil morphological naming conventions. For example, the town of Katthankudy in Eastern Sri Lanka is thought to be named after an Arab settler named "Al Qahtan".
Origins of some well-known place names
Big towns
* Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
: Derived from ''Kolamba'' an indigenous Vedda word for harbor or fort, borrowed by Sinhalese. However, the Portuguese were probably struck by its similarity to the name of Columbus, and renamed the city 'Colombo'.
* 'Kandy
Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...
' is an abbreviation of 'Kanda Udarata', or 'hill country' which was the seat of the later Sinhala kings.
* Galle
Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...
: Galle was known as Gimhathitha in ancient times. The term is believed to be derived from the classical Sinhalese term meaning "port near the river Gin".
* Trincomalee
Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
: Also known as Thirukonemalee in Tamil, is derived from the honorific
An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It ...
prefix used while addressing adult males in Tamil, being the equivalent of the English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
" Mr" and from the words "Kone" meaning King and Malee meaning mountain in Tamil.
* Batticaloa meaning of: Land of the singing fish.
*Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mo ...
is the English rendering of Yazhpanam (யாழ்ப்பாணம்) in Tamil meaning "town of the harper"
Archaeologist Paranavithana suggests that the original name was ''Javapatuna'', where 'Java' alludes to the presence of Javaka people. The Portuguese historian De Queyroz refers to it at 'Jafanapataõ', which he says is said by some to be a corrupted form of 'Jafana-en-Putalam', or "Town of the Lord Jafana", and by others to be derived from 'Jafana-Patanaõture' meaning "long harbour".
Akkaraipattumeaning - Ten Cities after the River.
Touristic places
* Polonnaruwa
Poḷonnaruwa, ( si, පොළොන්නරුව, translit=Poḷonnaruva; ta, பொலன்னறுவை, translit=Polaṉṉaṟuvai) also referred as Pulathisipura and Vijayarajapura in ancient times, is the main town of Polonnaruwa Dis ...
* Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central ...
* Sigiriya
Sigiriya or Sinhagiri (''Lion Rock'' si, සීගිරිය, ta, சிகிரியா/சிங்ககிரி, pronounced see-gi-ri-yə) is an ancient rock fortress located in the northern Matale District near the town of Dambull ...
: derived from the structure — singha giri, the lion rock.
* Mihintale is derived from "Mihindu" (the arahat monk who brought Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
to Sri Lanka) + "thalaya" (highland). It is mentioned in Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
culture, that arahat monk "Mihindu" appeared on top of a high rock which is today known as Mihintale, and preached Buddhist teachings to then king of Sri Lanka, Devanampiyathissa.
* Negombo
Negombo (, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in Western Province, from Colombo via Colombo - Katunayake Expressway.
Negombo is one of the major commercial hubs in the country an ...
* Hikkaduwa
Hikkaduwa is a small town on the south coast of Sri Lanka located in the Southern Province, about north-west of Galle and south of Colombo.
Etymology
The name Hikkaduwa is thought to have been derived from the two words ''Sip Kaduwa'', with ...
* Unawatuna
* Ambalangoda
Ambalangoda is a coastal town located in Galle District, Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Governed by Ambalangoda Urban Council, the town is famous for its ancient demon masks and devil dancers. Situated approximately south of Colombo, it sits ...
* Bentota
Bentota is a coastal town in Sri Lanka, located in the Galle District of the Southern Province. It is approximately south of Colombo and north of Galle. Bentota is situated on the southern bank of the Bentota River mouth, at an elevati ...
* Tangalle
Tangalle ( Sinhala තංගල්ල , ta, தங்கல்லை) (also known as Tangalla) is a large town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. It is one of the largest towns in southern provinc ...
* Nilaweli
* Nuwara Eliya
Nuwara Eliya ( si, නුවර එළිය ; ta, நுவரெலியா) is a city in the hill country of the Central Province, Sri Lanka. Its name means "city on the plain (table land)" or "city of light". The city is the administrativ ...
means "city of light" in Sinhala
Geolinguistic distribution
As already stated above, European place names are found mainly in the big towns which used to be colonial centers. In the countryside, there is close to no European toponymy and the indigenous languages are dominant.
Given the very similar processes of place name formation in Sinhala and Tamil explicated above, it is not always easy to establish the original language of a place name, because loan translation
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language whi ...
s are common in both directions. For such an alleged example of loan translation, see the case of Trincomalee above. Additionally, some place names draw on Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
or Pali
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'' Buddh ...
roots, which are then adapted to Sinhala and Tamil phonology in different ways. These intricacies must be taken into account when evaluating claims that a certain area was predominantly inhabited by one group or the other at a certain point in time.
Taking a synchronic point of view, Sinhala place names are more common in the Sinhala speaking areas in the South, whereas Tamil place names are more common in the Tamil speaking areas in the North and East. On a diachronic
Synchrony and diachrony are two complementary viewpoints in linguistic analysis. A ''synchronic'' approach (from grc, συν- "together" and "time") considers a language at a moment in time without taking its history into account. Synchronic l ...
point of view, things are more complicated, and both Sinhala settlements in the North and Tamil settlements in the South have been claimed to have been more common in the past. The motivation behind such analyses is not always scientific; political goals also play a role in claiming a certain area for a certain language group, see the next section for more discussion of this. The following statements have to be interpreted with this caveat in mind.
Sinhalese place names are found throughout the island. As discussed by Sri Lankan historians such as Paul E Peiris, Karthigesu Indrapala
Professor Karthigesu Indrapala (born 22 October 1938) is a Sri Lankan academic, historian, archaeologist, author and former dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Jaffna.
Early life and family
Indrapala was born on 22 October 1938. He was th ...
and others, pre- Christian stone inscriptions of Sri Lanka point to the extensive use of the Sinhala language in local administration. Much of the information for tracing the old place names comes from etymology, written texts, many stone inscriptions which are in Sinhala and dating back to pre-Christian times, as well as the more recent colonial records.
Dutch and British records show that the language of the inhabitants of Vanni in the 17th and 18th centuries were Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
, some of them considered Tamils to be 'strangers' (foreign) to the island.
According to M. Chelvadurai(a Tamil) only Tamil words were used for natural and human-made features in the Vanni region with no trace of Sinhalese words, while Vanni itself is a Sinhala word. According to Professor K. Kularatnam, when analyzing the regional distribution of place names in Sri Lanka, one not only comes across Tamil names in areas which are Sinhala-speaking, and vice versa, but also composite or hybrid place names which are part Sinhalese and part Tamil in composition, as well as Sinhalese and Tamil place names juxtaposed within small areas.[
Most hybrid place names are found in the traditionally Sinhalese North Western and North Central ]provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
, as well as the traditionally Tamil Northern and Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
provinces.
Sigiri graffiti verses referring to the Jaffna peninsula and written c. 8th century, contain references to ''Vaeligama'',
Kularatnam concluded from the hybrid place names that the traditionally Sinhalese North Central and North Western Provinces, as well as the coastal tracts as far as south as Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
, were inhabited by Tamil-speaking people in the past.[ In addition, there have been also at least small segments elsewhere in the island.][ The many composite or hybrid place names and the juxtaposition of Sinhala and Tamil place names indicated the peaceful coexistence of people of both language groups.][Kularatnam, "Tamil Place Names in Ceylon outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces", p. 493]
Anthropological and political relevance of place names in Sri Lanka
Place names are a source of controversy in Sri Lankan politics. According to Nissan & Stirrat, the Sri Lankan Civil War is an outcome of how modern ethnic identities have been made and re-made since the colonial period, with the political struggle between minority Sri Lankan Tamils and the Sinhala-dominant government accompanied by rhetorical wars over archeological sites and place name
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government
* "Place", a type of street or road name
** Often ...
etymologies, and the political use of the national past.
Both sides in the present political context back up their respective claims through the selective use of histories and through the selective and competitive use of archeological evidence. Factions on each side have been willing to destroy, or reinterpret, evidence which would support the other party. Differing maps are produced which purport to show the distribution of Sinhala and Tamil in Lanka during past centuries.
They further note that in the currently Tamil-dominant Northern Province there are place names with Sinhalese etymologies, which is used by the Sinhala dominant government to claim the territory, whereas Tamils using Tamil place names in rationally Sinhala areas point to their antiquity in the island. There is a movement in Sri Lanka that seeks to use original Sinhala names throughout the country.
Historical development of the place name controversies
In the 1920s, two historical descriptions of Jaffna were published, ''Ancient Jaffna'' by C. Rasanayagam, and ''A Critical History of Jaffna'' by Swamy Gnanaprakasar. A main claim of these books was that the North and East were hereditary possessions of the Tamils.Upon the establishment of the University of Ceylon under the Indian historian H. C. Ray, and the archeologist S. Paranavithana, these claims were re-examined by Sinhalese academics. An issue of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
The ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'' is an academic journal which publishes articles on the history, archaeology, literature, language, religion and art of South Asia, the Middle East (together with North Africa and Ethiopia), Central Asi ...
in 1961,[Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (ceylon Branch), vol III, p174-224 (1961)] examined the findings of Rasanaygam et al. and gave different interpretations.
See also
*Languages of Sri Lanka
Several languages are spoken in Sri Lanka within the Indo-Aryan, Austronesian, and Dravidian families. Sri Lanka accords official status to Sinhala and Tamil, and English as a recognised language. The languages spoken on the island nation are ...
*Names of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Lankā; ta, சிறி லங்கா / இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in the northern Indian Ocean which has ...
* Locations in Sri Lanka with a Scottish name
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Placename Etymology, Sri Lankan
History of Sri Lanka by location
Culture in Sri Lanka by locality
Sri Lanka
Names of places in Asia