Originally Posted by
thaimeme
Originally Posted by
CaptainNemo
Did you know that the word "Laos" comes simply from English speakers writing the plural of Lao on a map... as in "there are Laos/Lao people here".
The name "Laoland" makes more sense.
Actually, the term
LAOS is a modern French derivative
...it's not French, it's English... 1 Lao, 2 Laos...
The Siamese used the English term to describe the peoples under their suzerainty in their treaties with the French, who adopted it, thinking it was a local name... then it gets passed back into English as an exotic name... but it really isn't that exotic... it's just a plural.