Veddan.
/ˈvɛdə/, U.S. /ˈvɛdə/ A member of an indigenous people inhabiting the forest districts of Sri Lanka.
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the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Ceylon > [noun]
Vedda1681
Sinhalese1801
yakkha1837
1681 R. Knox Hist. Relation Ceylon 61 In this Land are many of these wild men, they call them Vaddahs.
1851 W. B. Carpenter Man. Physiol. (ed. 2) 289 The Veddahs or wild hunters of Ceylon.
1875 W. S. Jevons Money iv. 28 Somewhat similar pieces circulated in Abyssinia, the Soulou Archipelago.., and among the Veddahs.
1876 B. F. Hartshorne in Fortn. Rev. Mar. 406 The Weddas, or, as they are more commonly but inaccurately called, the Veddas of Ceylon.
1881 E. B. Tylor Anthropol. (1904) vi. 164 In the forests of Ceylon are found..the Veddas or ‘hunters’, shy wild men who build bough huts, and live on game and wild honey.
1900 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 453 Practices, which are worthy of the Weddas or the Maories.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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