Laguna de Bay - Name

Name

Laguna de Bay means "Lake of Bay" for the lakeshore town of Bay (pronounced as "Bä'ï"), the former provincial capital of Laguna province. Alternate spellings of the town's name include "Bae" or "Ba-i", and in the early colonial times, "Bayi" or "Vahi". Thus, the lake is sometimes spelled as "Laguna de Bae" or "Laguna de Ba-i", mostly by the locals. The town's name is believed to have come from the Tagalog word for "settlement" (bahayan), and is related to the words for "house" (bahay), "shore" (baybayin), and "boundary" (baybay), among others. The introduction of the English language during the American occupation of the Philippines, elicited confusion as the English word "bay", referring to another body of water, was mistakenly substituted to the town name that led to its mispronunciation. However, the word "Bay" in Laguna de Bay has always referred to the town.

The Spanish word Laguna refers to not just lagoons but also for freshwater lakes, aside from lago. Some examples of the worldwide usage of laguna for lakes include Laguna Chicabal in Guatemala, Laguna de Gallocanta in Spain, Laguna Catemaco in Mexico and Laguna de Leche, the largest lake in Cuba. The lake's alternate name, "Laguna Lake", refers to the Province of Laguna, the province at the southern shore of the lake. (Laguna province, though, was named because of the large lake and was originally called La Laguna till the early 20th century.)

In the pre-Hispanic era, the lake was known as "Puliran Kasumuran" (Laguna Copperplate Inscription. 900 AD), and later by "Pulilan" (Vocabulario de Lengua Tagala.1613. Pila, Laguna).