Editing Colombo (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:කොළඹ ලාංඡනය ලන්දේසි.JPG|150px|thumbnail|left|Coat of arms of Colombo from the [[Dutch Ceylon]] era, depicting a [[mango tree]]]]

The name 'Colombo', first introduced by the [[Portuguese explorers]] in 1505, is believed to be derived from the classical [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]] name {{lang|si|කොලොන් තොට}}, {{lang|ta|கொல்லம் துறைமுகம்}} ''Kolon thota'', meaning "port on the river [[Kelani River|Kelani]]".<ref name="so1">{{cite news |url=https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2004/02/15/fea15.html |title=Colombo – then and now |work=Padma Edirisinghe |publisher=The Sunday Observer |date=14 February 2004 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930171524/http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2004/02/15/fea15.html |archive-date=30 September 2007 }}</ref>

Another belief is that the name is derived from the Sinhala name {{lang|si|කොල-අඹ-තොට}}, {{lang|ta|பெருங்குடல் துறைமுகம்}} ''Kola-amba-thota'' which means 'Harbour with leafy/green mango trees'.<ref name="we1">''World Executive'' [http://www.worldexecutive.com/locations/asia_pacific/sri_lanka/colombo/ Colombo Hotels and City Guide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302145548/http://www.worldexecutive.com/locations/asia_pacific/sri_lanka/colombo/ |date=2016-03-02 }}</ref> This coincides with [[Robert Knox (sailor)|Robert Knox]]'s history of the island while he was a prisoner in Kandy. He writes that "On the West, the City of Columbo, so-called from a Tree the Natives call Ambo, (which bears the Mango-fruit) growing in that place; but this never bear fruit, but only leaves, which in their Language is kola and thence they called the Tree Colambo: which the Christians in honour of [[Christopher Columbus]] turned to Columbo."

The author of the oldest Sinhala grammar, ''Sidatsangarava,'' written in the 13th century wrote about a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhala. It lists ''naramba'' (to see) and ''kolamba'' (fort or harbour) as deriving from the indigenous [[Vedda language]]. ''Kolamba'' may also be the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo.<ref>{{cite book |last=Indrapala |first=Karthigesu |title=The evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils in Sri Lanka C. 300 BCE to C. 1200 CE |publisher=Vijitha Yapa |year=2007 |location=Colombo |isbn=978-955-1266-72-1 |page=70}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gair |first=James |title=Studies in South Asian Linguistics |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |location=[[New York City|New York]] |isbn=978-0-19-509521-0 |page=5}}</ref>