Panthera pardus kotiya is the kotiyā proper.[7] Traditional Sinhala idioms, such as 'a change in the jungle (habitat) will not change the spots of a "kotiyā"', confirms the traditional use of "kotiyā" to refer to leopard, instead of tiger that has stripes.[citation needed]
But due to a nomenclature mishap that occurred in the late 1980s, "kotiyā" has now become the colloquial Sinhala term for tiger. Still "kotiya" is used to referred to leopard in the mainstream but at the same time "diviyā" (දිවියා) is used informally by many. The term "diviyā" refers to smaller wild cats such as "Handun Diviyā" or "Kola Diviyā". Both names are used interchangeably for the Fishing Cat and the Rusty-spotted cat.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the word 'kotiya' was being frequently incorrectly translated into English as "tiger" in Sri Lankan media due to incorrect information that was received from the then head of the Wildlife Department in Sri Lanka.[citation needed] He had allegedly said that "there are no kotiyas (tigers) in Sri Lanka but diviyās", misinterpreting Panthera pardus kotiya as "diviyā", the Sinhala term used for small wild cats. Although it is correct that there are no tigers in Sri Lanka, the formal Sinhala word for tiger is "viyagraya" and not "kotiyā"
නම් දෙකම තේරැම එක වගේ... නැත්තන් ව්යාග්රයා කියල අලුත් වචනයක් ඔිනි නැහැනේ.
