Great knowledge, Prasanna !
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Originally Posted by Prasanna Weerakkody
... The possibility of the name Kasthana being influenced by the Portuguese is real as it is a word that does not seem to have a direct meaning in Sinhala or have too many similar words to accompany it...
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I too have heard about the 'uniqueness' of the term, but am not studious enough to go deep into it, neither i recall the source i have read about it; so i preferred to attribute it some reserve.
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Originally Posted by Prasanna Weerakkody
Curiously the only other similar term that (comes to my mind) that may also shed a little light on this is the “Patisthana” spears; being of the same class as the Partisans..
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Yes, specialy if you consider that the term in portuguese is Partasana.
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Originally Posted by Prasanna Weerakkody
... It is known that the Sinhala elite of the era was quite conversant with Portuguese and the use of the language had become wide spread and stylish as a secondary language in the Country. even today there is a rather large number of words of Portuguese origin amalgamated within the Sinhala language.
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Amazing ... and so familiar to what i have learnt of other places that were approached by Portuguese during that period, like in Malaca (Melaka), where the elders of a local comunity still dominate several words and expressions and in Japan, where a significant number of words were adopted and are still active in their vocabulary.
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