Editing Sri Lanka (section)

== Toponymy ==
{{Main|Names of Sri Lanka}}

In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names. According to the ''[[Mahāvaṃsa]]'', the legendary [[Prince Vijaya]] named the island [[Kingdom of Tambapanni|Tambapaṇṇĩ]] ("[[Copper (color)|copper-red]] hands" or "copper-red earth"), because his followers' hands were reddened by the [[red soil]] of the area where he landed.<ref>{{cite book |author=Nanda Pethiyagoda Wanasundera |title=Sri Lanka |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Ts1khhfXm8C&pg=PA26 |year=2002 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=978-0-7614-1477-3 |page=26}}</ref><ref name="JMS_1997">{{cite book |author=John M. Senaveratna |title=The story of the Sinhalese from the most ancient times up to the end of "the Mahavansa" or Great dynasty |publisher=Asian Educational Services |date=1997 |page=11 |isbn=978-81-206-1271-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9TeEcMi0e0C&pg=PA11+}}</ref> In [[Hindu mythology]], the term [[Lanka|''Lankā'']] ("Island") appears but it is unknown whether it refers to the island. The Tamil term [[Eelam]] ({{Langx|ta|ஈழம்|translit=īḻam}}) was used to designate the whole island in [[Sangam literature]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zS4OAQAAMAAJ |title=Encyclopedia of the world's minorities |last=Skutsch |first=Carl |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-57958-470-2 |language=en |access-date=15 September 2017 |archive-date=31 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331023929/https://books.google.com/books?id=zS4OAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d_anEcoRJIQC&pg=PT105 |title=Autonomy and Ethnic Conflict in South and South-East Asia |last=Ganguly |first=Rajat |date=20 May 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-31188-8 |language=en}}</ref> The island was known [[Chola conquest of Anuradhapura|under Chola rule]] as ''Mummudi Cholamandalam'' ("realm of the [[Three Crowned Kings|three crowned]] Cholas").<ref>{{Cite book |title=Art of the Imperial Cholas |last=Dehejia |first=Vidya |date=18 October 1990 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-51524-5 |pages=51 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Ancient Greek]] geographers called it ''[[Taprobana|Taprobanā]]'' ({{langx|grc|Ταπροβανᾶ}}) or ''Taprobanē'' ({{lang|grc|Ταπροβανῆ}})<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lkawgw/slm-taprobane.htm |title=In Search of Taprobane: the Western discovery and mapping of Ceylon |author=Abeydeera, Ananda |access-date=17 October 2015 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010151116/http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lkawgw/slm-taprobane.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> from the word ''Tambapanni''. The Persians and Arabs referred to it as ''Sarandīb'' (the origin of the word "[[serendipity]]") from [[Sanskrit]] ''Siṃhaladvīpaḥ''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.0.hobson.994549 |title=Hobson-Jobson |publisher=Dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu |date=1 September 2001 |access-date=15 August 2018 |archive-date=27 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227225430/http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.0.hobson.994549 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/serendipity |title=Serendipity – definition of serendipity by The Free Dictionary |publisher=Thefreedictionary.com |date=10 November 2017 |access-date=15 August 2018 |archive-date=13 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013192621/https://www.thefreedictionary.com/serendipity |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Ceilão'', the name given to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese when they arrived in 1505,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rajasingham |first1=K. T. |title=Sri Lanka: The untold story |url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CH11Df02.html |website=[[Asia Times]] |access-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010814202127/http://atimes.com/ind-pak/CH11Df02.html |archive-date=14 August 2001 |date=11 August 2001 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> was transliterated into English as ''Ceylon''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glue.umd.edu/~pkd/sl/facts/name_origin.html |title=Etymologies of Lanka, Serendib, Taprobane and Ceylon |author=Zubair, Lareef |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070422115208/http://www.glue.umd.edu/~pkd/sl/facts/name_origin.html |archive-date=22 April 2007}}</ref> As a British [[crown colony]], the island was known as Ceylon; it achieved independence as the [[Dominion of Ceylon]] in 1948.

The country is now known in Sinhala as ''{{transliteration|si|ISO|Śrī Laṅkā}}'' ({{langx|si|ශ්&zwj;රී ලංකා}}) and in Tamil as ''{{transliteration|ta|ISO|Ilaṅkai}}'' ({{langx|ta|இலங்கை}}, {{IPA|ta|iˈlaŋɡaɪ|IPA}}). In 1972, its formal name was changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka". Later, on 7 September 1978, it was changed to the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/srilanka/constitutions/1978%20Constitution.pdf |title=The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka |publisher=University of Minnesota Human Rights Library |date=7 September 1978 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202031113/http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/srilanka/constitutions/1978%20Constitution.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Chapter I&nbsp;– The People, The State And Sovereignty |journal=The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka |url=http://www.priu.gov.lk/Cons/1978Constitution/Chapter_01_Amd.html |access-date=15 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531083515/http://www.priu.gov.lk/Cons/1978Constitution/Chapter_01_Amd.html |archive-date=31 May 2014 }}</ref> As the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority.<ref>{{cite news |author=Haviland, Charles |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12099596 |title=Sri Lanka erases colonial name, Ceylon |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=1 January 2011 |access-date=22 June 2018 |archive-date=1 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201204129/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12099596 |url-status=live }}</ref>