Etymology

Unknown.

It bears striking resemblance to a Southeast Asian word for “sea”. Compare Burmese ပင်လယ် ‎(panglai, “sea; ocean”), Shan ပၢင်ႇလၢႆႇ ‎(paaŋ2 laaj2, “sea; ocean”), Jingpho panglai ‎(“sea”), S'gaw Karen ပီၣ်လဲၣ် ‎(pɔ̀lɛ̀, “sea”). It seems to be a borrowing, possibly from a Mon-Khmer language; compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *d[n]liʔ ‎(“sea”), whence Old Khmer danle, danley ‎(“large river; lake; sea”) > Khmer ទន្លេ ‎(tônlé, “river”), Thai ทะเล ‎(tá-lee, “sea”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Alternatively, it is possibly a transcription of an earlier Austro-Asiatic name; cf. 萊國／莱国 (Láiguó, “Lai”), an ancient Dongyi tribe, where 萊／莱 (lái) has been argued to transcribe a native word for "mountain" or "wilderness".

Pronunciation