kotta

Kotta, often spelled Kotte, is a term found in several South Asian languages with related meanings, most commonly “fort” or “fortress.” In Sinhala and Tamil, variants such as kote, kotte, or kottai appear in place names and historical terms, reflecting fortifications that once stood at a site. The root is widely used in toponyms across Sri Lanka and southern India.

In Sri Lanka, the name Kotte is closely tied to fortifications and geography. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the administrative capital of Sri Lanka, located near Colombo. The historical Kingdom of Kotte, a Sinhalese polity that dominated the region from roughly the 15th to the early 16th century, was centered on fortifications near present-day Colombo. The term survives in modern geography as a reminder of the fortifications that once protected the area.

Beyond Sri Lanka, similar spellings appear in Indian and Southeast Asian place names, where kote or kotta forms part of village or town names, often indicating a fortified site, elevated position, or former fortress. In some languages, kotta can also function as a generic noun or, less commonly, as a surname or personal name, though such uses are regional and less standardized in English-language sources.

Kotta is thus primarily a toponymic and historical term tied to fortifications, with modern usage most prominently represented by Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the administrative capital of Sri Lanka.