Sunday Times 2
National Trust lecture: Sri Lankan words in the Oxford English Dictionary
View(s):A Lecture on ‘Words of Sri Lankan origin in the Oxford English Dictionary, especially those introduced by Robert Knox’ by Richard Boyle will be held on Thursday, November 26 at the HNB Auditorium, 22nd Floor, HNB Towers, 479 T.B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10 at 6.30 p.m.
This is the 79th Session of the Monthly Lecture Series of the National Trust – Sri Lanka.In the mid-17th Century, unsuspecting British sailors were captured on the north-east coast around Trincomalee by forces of Rajasingha II. They were confined to remote villages within the kingdom of Kandy, and had to adapt to an alien culture and challenging environment. Thus they began to use names, mainly from Sinhala, for such things as popular food and prevalent fauna and flora with no English equivalent.
One of those sailors was Robert Knox, who spent nearly 20 years in the kingdom before he escaped in 1680 and returned to London. His An Historical Relation of Ceylon, published in 1681, included words of the native language from adigar to wanderoo, their first occurrence in English. When the Oxford English Dictionary began research in 1879, the book was read by Donald Ferguson, who suggested words for the first edition. Since then more have appeared in the second and online third edition, adigar most recently in 2011. This is the story of Knox’s words and the Dictionary. The “Buddha” is one of the most important words introduced to the English language from Sinhala.
British national Richard Boyle arrived in Sri Lanka in 1973, aged 22, to work as assistant to Sri Lankabhimanya Lester James Pieris on The God King, and later scripted and produced feature films such as the British East of Elephant Rock (1976) and the Sri Lankan/British Rampage (1977). He then turned to specialist documentary scripting and production for UN agencies and NGOs.
He has written many articles about Sri Lanka’s culture, history – mainly the British colonial period – travel and destination, and the foreign films made within its shores. His books include ‘BP de Silva: The Royal Jeweller of South-East Asia’, ‘Sindbad in Serendib: Strange Tales and Curious Aspects of Sri Lanka’ and the coffee-table book ‘Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya’.
His book ‘Knox’s Words: A Study of the words of Sri Lankan origin or association first used in English literature by Robert Knox and recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary’ published in 2004, was a result of his research after his appointment as the Sri Lankan English Consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Please contact the Trust Office at the Post-Graduate Institute of Archaeology, 407, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7 on Tel: 011-2682730 for further information.