Sri Lanka and Related Names
The island was renamed Sri Lanka, meaning "resplendent island" in Sanskrit, in 1972, before which it was known by a variety of names and the island was often simply called Lanka. Other names using a form of Sri include Shri Lanka, preferred by the former Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa but never gaining wider appeal.
In the Ramayana, it was also known as Lankadweepa, with dweepa meaning "island". From the Ramayana comes the Javanese name Alengko for Ravana's kingdom. Another traditional Sinhala name for Sri Lanka was Lakdiva, with diva also meaning "island". A further traditional name is Lakbima. Lak in both cases is derived again from Lanka.
Of the same etymology, Sri Lanka is known locally in Tamil as İlankai. The appellation Lanka, however, was unknown to the Greeks, from whom most Western names would be derived, and is not seen in any Western names until 1972.
Read more about this topic: Names Of Sri Lanka
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