Sangley - Etymology

Etymology

Sanglay comes directly from the Hokkien Chinese word seng-li (Chinese: 生理; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: seng-lí), meaning "business". Hokkien, also known as Min-nan, Amoy, Hoklo, or Holo, is the dominant language of Southern Fujian and northeastern Guangdong provinces in China, as well as Taiwan. The majority of Chinese sojourners, traders, and settlers in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period came from southern Fujian and spoke Hokkien, as well as leaving their mark on Filipino language and culture (especially the cuisine). Although mestizo de sanglay literally means "mixed-race (person) of business", its implicit meaning is "mixed-race (person) of Chinese and Filipino descent", because many early Chinese immigrants were traders who intermixed with the local population. By default, mestizo without the qualifying de sanglay means a mixed-race person of Spanish/European ancestry. But, due to the relatively few European mestizos in the Philippines, the term mestizo usually refers to mestizo de sanglay. Benito Legarda stated this definition before the United States Philippine Commission (1899–1900) citing Wenceslao Retana's Diccionario de filipinismos (1921). The term chino mestizo was also used interchangeably with mestizo de sanglay.