Also 7 Vaddah, 9 Veddah, Wedda. [Sinhalese veddā archer, hunter.] A member of a primitive race inhabiting the forest districts of Ceylon.
1681. R. Knox, Hist. Ceylon, 61. In this Land are many of these wild men, they call them Vaddahs.
1851. Carpenter, Man. Phys. (ed. 2), 289. The Veddahs or wild hunters of Ceylon.
1875. Jevons, Money, iv. 28. Somewhat similar pieces circulated in Abyssinia, the Soulou Archipelago…, and among the Veddahs.
1881. Tylor, Anthropology, vi. (1904), 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.
