Sinhala
English
Etymology
Sanskrit सिंहल (siṃhala), from सिंह (siṃhá, “lion”) + suffix -la, recorded as the name of the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from about the 10th to 12th century, but presumably older, as it is also the source of the name Ceylon in western geographic tradition. The name is sometimes glossed as "abode of lions", referring to a supposed former abundance of lions on the island ( The Asiatic Journal 20 (1836), p. 30).
Pronunciation
Noun
Sinhala (uncountable)
- The indigenous language of the majority people of Sri Lanka.
Synonyms
Translations
language — see Sinhalese
Proper noun
Sinhala
- (obsolete) The island of Sri Lanka.
- (Mahabharata) The kingdom in the island of Sri Lanka mentioned in the Mahabharata.
Further reading
- The template Template:ISO 639 does not use the parameter(s):
1code=si code=sin link=Ethnologue
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
(international standards) language code for [[w:ISO 639:Sinhala|Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Sinhala" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E.]].