Sri Lanka

→ Japanese: スリランカ (Suri Ranka)

/ʃɹiˈlɑːŋkə/

/sɹiˈlɑːŋkə/

Borrowed from Sinhalese ශ්රී ලංකාව (śrī laṁkāwa), from Sanskrit श्री लङ्का (śrī laṅkā, literally “holy Lanka”).

der

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka#English

An island and country in South Asia, off the coast of India. Official name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Capital: Colombo.


rupee

Coined by Sher Shah Suri, the Sultan of the Suri Empire 1540–1545 as Hindustani रुपीया / رُوپِییَہ (rūpīya), variant of रुपया / رُوپَیَہ (rūpaya, “rupee”), from Sanskrit रूप्यक (rūpyaka, “silver coin”), from रूप्य (rūpya, “wrought gold or silver; stamped coin; beautiful, well-shaped; impressed, stamped”). Doublet of rufiyaa and rupiah.

In fact, the visible appearance of the iron is a symbol; it is not what it ultimately is. To take an analogy we are given a ten-rupee note. He knows it truly who at sight recognizes the piece of paper as a symbol of unity that represents ten separate silver coins.

1937, Rabindranath Tagore, “Lecture II: Supreme Man”, in Man: Lectures Delivered at the Andhra University under the Terms of the Sir Alladi Krishnaswamy Endowment (Andhra University Series; no. 16), Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh: Kitabistan, published 1946, →OCLC, pages 37–38:

In the fifth and sixth [standard] I obtained scholarships of rupees four and ten respectively, an achievement for which I have to thank good luck more than my merit.

1948, Mohandas K[aramchand] Gandhi, “At the High School”, in Mahadev Desai, transl., Gandhi’s Autobiography, or, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, →OCLC; reprinted as An Autobiography; or The Story of My Experiments with Truth, New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2007, →ISBN, page 12:

There are no precise estimates available about the capital requirements of agricultural and rural development in India. But the amount required is in hundreds of thousands of crores of rupees.

1999, Katar Singh, “Financing Rural Development”, in Rural Development: Principles, Policies and Management, 2nd edition, New Delhi: SAGE Publications, published 2005, →ISBN, page 290:

The Seychelles rupee was allowed to depreciate in 2006 after being overvalued for years and fell by 10% in the first 9 months of 2007. Despite these actions, the Seychelles economy has struggled to maintain its gains and in 2008 suffered from food and oil price shocks, a foreign exchange shortage, high inflation, large financing gaps, and the global recession.

2013, “Strategic and Development Profiles”, in Seychelles Business Law Handbook, volumes 1 (Strategic Information and Basic Laws), Washington, D.C.: International Business Publications, →ISBN, page 15:

The common name for the monetary currencies used in modern India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, the Seychelles, or Sri Lanka.

paisa (1

modern Indian, Nepali, & Pakistani currencies


Sri Lankan

A person from Sri Lanka or of Sri Lankan descent.

singalès

a person from Sri Lanka or of Sri Lankan descent


Sri Lankan

Of, from, or pertaining to Sri Lanka or to the Sri Lankan people

singalès

of, from, or pertaining to Sri Lanka or to the Sri Lankan people


Bay of Bengal

A sea that forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean.

Golf van Bengale

Large bay in the northeastern Indian Ocean

બંગાળની ખાડી

baṅgāḷnī khāḍī


Ceylon

Borrowed from Portuguese Ceilão, from Old French Seilan (Marco Polo), from Persian سیلان (saylān), ultimately from Pali sīhaḷa, from Sanskrit सिंहल (siṃhala). Doublet of Sinhala.

Brush supplied shunters to industrial clients, but the first significant main line order came from the Ceylon Government Railway in 1950 for 25 diesel-electrics.

2021 June 30, David Clough, “Brush: a UK rail icon”, in RAIL, number 934, page 55:


Serendib

From Arabic سَرَنْدِيب (sarandīb), from Persian سرندیپ (sarandip), from Prakrit *𑀲𑀻𑀳𑀮𑀤𑀻𑀯 (*sīhaladīva) or Sanskrit सिंहलद्वीप (siṃhaladvīpa, “island of the Sinhala people”). See सिंहल (siṃhala, “Sri Lanka”), द्वीप (dvīpa, “island”). Doublet of Ceylon.

2003 Brigitte. Ellemor, Richard Plunkett, Verity Campbell - Sri Lanka
His last two journeys were to Sri Lanka, or Serendib as Arab mariners knew it.


pingo

From Greenlandic pingu or Inuktitut pingu (“hummock, small hill”).

The greatest variation in cover thickness, as determined from collapsed pingos, is in irregularly shaped pingos, or those with asymmetrically located ice-cores.

1963, J[ohn] Ross Mackay, The Mackenzie Delta Area, N.W.T. (Memoir (Geographical Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Canada); 8), Ottawa, Ont.: Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, →OCLC, page 74:

Considerable progress has been made on the discovery and mapping of many open system pingos in central Alaska and Yukon Territory[…], as well as the discovery of pingo-like mounds in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea north of the mouth of the Mackenzie River. The greatest advance in pingo research in the last decade has been a consideration and understanding of theory and rate of pingo growth […]

1973, Roger J. E. Brown, Troy L. Péwé, “Distribution of Permafrost in North America and Its Relationship to the Environment: A Review, 1963–1973: 13–28 July 1973, Yakutsk, U.S.S.R.”, in Permafrost: North American Contribution: Second International Conference, Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, →ISBN, page 80, column 2:

With the exception of small pingos, most pingo ice cores have several ice types. The bulk of the core can be segregated ice, intrusive ice formed from the freezing of bulk water, or any combination of the two types. In addition, dilation-crack ice (tension-crack ice, Brown and Kupsch, 1974) is commonly the main ice type beneath the summit of pingos with craters.

1983, J[ohn] Ross Mackay, “Oxygen Isotope Variations in Permafrost, Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula Area, Northwest Territories”, in Current Research Part B = Recherches en Cours Partie B (Geological Survey Paper; 83-1B), Ottawa, Ont.: Geological Survey of Canada, →ISBN, page 68:

Larger scale frost-heave features, such as pingoes, are rare because there is insufficient water available, generally, for the growth of large ice bodies.

1987, I. B. Campbell, G. G. C. Claridge, Antarctica: Soils, Weathering Processes and Environment (Developments in Soil Science; 16), Amsterdam, New York, N.Y.: Elsevier, →ISBN, page 106:

(geomorphology) A conical mound of earth with an ice core caused by permafrost uplift, particularly if lasting more than a year.


Ceylonese

en-adj

Ceylonese (comparative more Ceylonese, superlative most Ceylonese)

more Ceylonese (comparative)
most Ceylonese (superlative)


koha

Borrowed from Sinhalese කොහා (kohā, “cuckoo”), probably from Sinhalese කෝ + හඩ (kō + haḍa, “cuckoo”) or ultimately as the abbreviation of the word tells, the imitation of the chirping and trilling sound.

Our species, the Koel or Koha also belongs to this sub-family of Cuculinae. The male cuckoo is dark in colour, while its female is speckled (called the Gomara Koha).

1997, Gamini de S. G. Punchihewa, Vignettes of Far Off Things: Introducing the History, Tank Civilization, Jungle Lore, Fauna, & Flora and Adventure of the Walawe Basin, Nugegoda, Colombo, Sri Lanka: State Printing Corporation, →ISBN, page 199:

The sound of the koha is associated with the advent of the Sinhala and Tamil new year; the bird is often called the Avurudu koha—the New Year Cuckoo. The koha is an early bird, and its call is strident, plaintive, and easy to imitate. The legend has it that the koha never makes a nest of its own. It takes a free ride by laying its eggs in the crow's nest.

2006, Swarna Wickremeratne, “Festival of New Beginnings: The New Year”, in Buddha in Sri Lanka: Remembered Yesterdays, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, pages 31–32:

The adult male koels (or kohas as they are locally known) start calling in March, and are in full voice come April. Most Sri Lankans associate the call—a shrieking 'koo-Ooo' or 'ko-Haa' more penetrating than the mellifluous European cuckoo—with the start of a new year, as both the Sinhalese and the Tamils celebrate this in the middle of that month.

2010, M. G. Ratnayake, “The Koel in the Nest”, in That Blue Thing: An Engineer’s Travel, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 21:

The Koha or Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) is considered the harbinger of Sinhala and Tamil New Year for its beautiful song aimed at attracting a mate.

2017 April 9, Malaka Rodrigo, “Koha’s call overseas comes from another species”, in The Sunday Times, Colombo, Sri Lanka, archived from the original on 2018-06-09:

Eudynamys scolopaceus
Eudynamys scolopaceus#Translingual

(chiefly Sri Lanka) The koel (Eudynamys), a genus of cuckoos from Asia, Australia, and the Pacific with a distinctive loud call; specifically, the Asian koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus).


quarter farthing

en-noun

quarter farthing (plural quarter farthings)

[‘]The score, however, was only 10 thalers, 4 groschen, 6 pfennigs’ (30 shillings, 5 pence, and 2 or perhaps 3 quarter-farthings), ‘for what I had run-up in eight weeks[.]’

1750 June–August, Thomas Carlyle, in The Works of Thomas Carlyle III (2010), ed. Henry Duff Traill, page 257

(historical numismatics) A British coin, produced for circulation in Ceylon 1839–1853, which, at a face value of ⅟₁₆d. (£⅟₃₈₄₀), is the lowest denomination of coin ever minted for the United Kingdom.

quart de farthing

former British coin denominated to ⅟₁₆d.


three halfpence

head

three halfpence (sometimes a plural noun with the singular three halfpenny, sometimes singular, plural three halfpences)

(historical numismatics) A silver coin with a face value of one and a half pence (1½d.):

Such a British coin (1½d. = £⅟₁₆₀), minted 1834–1843 and 1860–1862 for circulation in the colonies of the British Empire (chiefly Ceylon and the West Indies).


Like 911, 119, etc., selected as a number both fast and easy to call from rotary or touch-tone phones and less likely to be mistakenly dialed.

The telephone number for ambulance services in Jamaica, Syria, and Sri Lanka.

The telephone number for firefighting assistance in Norway, Jamaica, Suriname, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Papua New Guinea.


The telephone number for law enforcement in Jamaica, Mozambique, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka.


Sri Lankan junglefowl

en-noun

Sri Lankan junglefowl (plural Sri Lankan junglefowl or Sri Lankan junglefowls)

Sri Lankan junglefowl (plural)
Sri Lankan junglefowls (plural)

A species of fowl, Gallus lafayettii, endemic to, and national bird of, Sri Lanka.


Kandyan

en-adj

Kandyan (comparative more Kandyan, superlative most Kandyan)

more Kandyan (comparative)
most Kandyan (superlative)

It is the ambition of each and every nooser to capture the first elephant; for he to whom falls this honor is considered the hero of the day, and in recognition of his skill and bravery is rewarded by His Excellency the Governor with an elephant book of Kandyan lacquer with brass and silver overlay.

1931, The Literary Digest, volume 108, Funk & Wagnalls, page 37:

Of or relating to the city of Kandy in Sri Lanka.


Kandyan

A native or inhabitant of the city of Kandy in Sri Lanka.


Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain

en-noun

Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain (plural Sri Lankan spotted chevrotains)

From Sri Lankan (of Sri Lanka) + spotted chevrotain (species of genus "Moschiola").

com

Moschiola meminna, a species of even-toed ungulate of the family Tragulidae.


Sirendiep

The breath of the mountain heifer was fragrant as the gales of Sirendiep, by feeding on ſpicy herbs.

1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv:

(obsolete) Alternative form of Serendib.


LTTE

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
w:Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Abbreviation of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.