Ved·da also Ved·dah 
(vĕdə)
(vĕdə)n. pl. Vedda or Ved·das also Veddah or Ved·dahs
A member of the earliest people of Sri Lanka, originally forest-dwelling hunters but now almost completely assimilated into the modern Sinhalese population.
[Sinhalese vädda, perhaps from Middle Indic vajjita-, excluded, from Sanskrit varjita-, past passive participle of varjayati, he avoids, shuns, causative of vṛṇakti, he bends, turns.]