Etymology
Main article: Names of Sri Lanka
In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names. According to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni ("copper-red hands" or "copper-red earth"), because his followers' hands were reddened by the red soil of the area.[18][19] In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā ("Island"). In Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam.[20]
Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā (Ancient Greek: Ταπροβανᾶ) or Taprobanē (Ταπροβανῆ)[21] from the word Tambapanni. The Persians and Arabs referred to it as Sarandīb (the origin of the word "serendipity") from the word Cerentivu.[22]Ceilão, the name given to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese Empire when it arrived in 1505,[23] was transliterated into English as Ceylon.[24] As a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon; it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948.
The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā (Sinhalese: ශ්රී ලංකා) and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai (Tamil: இலங்கை, IPA: [iˈlaŋɡai]). In 1972, its formal name was changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka". Later in 1978 it was changed to the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka".[25] 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.[26]
