Read on Twitter
It surprises me that Sinhalese has lost its inherited term for 'water', preferring instead the Dutch loan වතුර ⟨waturə⟩. The inherited term පෑන් ⟨pǣn⟩ (< OIA pānī) still, however, appears fossilized in some nominal constructions such as mī pǣnī 'honey' (LIT 'bee water').
Are there any other interesting examples of South Asian languages displaying such a drastic loss of inherited vocabulary in the "everyday-domain"? I would love to know!
Preferably non-religiously primed loans, from languages with which speakers had a relatively brief period of contact. Dutch colonialism in Sri Lanka, for example, lasted only about a century.
Sorry, this should be mī pæni ⟨mī pæṇi⟩ මී පැණි (unlengthened vowels)
