page_title: Sri Lankan place name etymology
section_title: Big towns
hierarchical_section_title: Sri Lankan place name etymology / Origins of some well-known place names / Big towns
caption_attribution_description: English: Southwest Beira Lake in Colombo, Sri Lanka Русский: Озеро Бейра в Коломбо, Шри-Ланка
context_page_description: 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 routes. While typical Sri Lankan placenames of Sinhalese origin vastly dominate, toponyms which stem from Tamil, Dutch, English, Portuguese and Arabic 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.
context_section_description: Colombo:   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' is an abbreviation of 'Kanda Udarata', or 'hill country' which was the seat of the later Sinhala kings.
  Galle: 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: Also known as Thirukonemalee in Tamil, is derived from the honorific prefix used while addressing adult males in Tamil, being the equivalent of the English "Mr" and from the words "Kone" meaning King and Malee meaning mountain in Tamil.
  Batticaloa meaning of: Land of the singing fish.
  Jaffna 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.
caption: The Beira Lake in the Slave Island area in Colombo
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