Talk:Laïs (band)

Latest comment: 10 years ago by JoJan in topic Meaning of the name


Meaning of the name

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"Laïs" is a Celtic word, meaning "voice".

Who claims this, and what is the Celtic language in question? The diaeresis might imply Breton, equivalent to Welsh llais, but as OED says, "the assumed Breton equivalent is non-existent".

I would change it to something like "the band claim that..." but I can't actually see the "Celtic" claim on their website ("Stem, dat is wat lais [sic] betekent" http://www.lais.be/exec/ic2web.exe?lang=NL&page=/biografie.htm). They also refer to the lais (lays) of Marie de France, but though it's tempting to imagine an etymological link with "voice", OED dismisses the idea and supports a Germanic origin (http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/106490).

So unless anyone can back it up, that sentence should probably just be deleted. Flapdragon (talk) 14:46, 16 December 2013 (UTC)Reply

I think this world may be the plural of Lai. A similar explanation can be found here [1]. No connection to a Celtic word has been found. But the book "Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia" [2] states that lais are "popular narrative verse with a debt to Celtic popular culture". JoJan (talk) 15:19, 16 December 2013 (UTC)Reply