This is a list of
Sinhala words of
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 ...
origin.
''Note: For information on the transcription used, see
National Library at Calcutta romanization. An exception from the standard is the
romanization of Sinhala long "ä" () as "ää".''
Sinhala words of
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 ...
origin came about during the period of
Dutch colonial rule in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
between 1658 and 1798. This period saw absorption of several Dutch words into the local language brought about by the interaction between Dutch colonials and the Sinhalese people, mainly in the coastal areas of the island. The Dutch replaced the Portuguese as the catalyst of change with regards to the social and cultural life of the people. A wide variety of words were adopted from administrative terms to military terms, which reveals several points of contact between the two groups.
Types of loanwords
;Borrowings
The words pertaining to the fields of daily life,
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...
,
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ...
and
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...
are the most numerous; this is to be expected because of many new innovations and goods that reached Sri Lanka via the Dutch.
The borrowing process
Dutch loanwords in Sinhala rarely appear in the same form as the original word. Usually, a word has undergone some kind of modification to fit into the Sinhala
phonological
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
or
morphological system (e.g. ''balk'' becomes ''bālkaya'' because Sinhala inanimate nouns (see
grammatical gender
In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all noun ...
) need to end with /a/, , in order to be
decline
Decline may refer to:
*Decadence, involves a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, or skill over time
* "Decline" (song), 2017 song by Raye and Mr Eazi
* ''The Decline'' (EP), an EP by NOFX
* The Decline (band), Australia ...
able).
These are the main ways Dutch words are incorporated into the Sinhala lexicon with different endings:
*With an /aya/ or /uva/ added to Dutch words ending in consonants (e.g. ''raam'' > ''rāmuva'').
*With a /ya/ added to words ending in /a/ or /e/ or /i/ (e.g. ''bakje'' > ''bakkiya'').
*With the animate ending /yā/ added to Dutch words signifying living beings or (e.g. ''tolk'' > ''tōlkayā'').
*Initial /s/ preceding a consonant usually forms an additional syllable (e.g. ''school'' > ''iskōlaya'').
Nouns and Adjectives
[Meyler, Michael (2007). A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English. Samayawardhana Printers.]
Verbs
See also
*
English loanwords in Sinhala
*
Portuguese loanwords in Sinhala
*
Tamil loanwords in Sinhala
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutch Loanwords in Sinhala
Sinhala
Sri Lanka-related lists
Lists of Sinhala words of foreign origin
Dutch language in Asia