Sangley

English

Alternative forms

• sangley
• Sanglay, sanglay

Etymology

From Spanish Sangley, ultimately from Hokkien.

Noun

Sangley (plural Sangleys or Sangleyes)

1. (Philippines, historical) A person of pure Chinese ancestry. (especially during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines)
   • 1905, United States Bureau of the Census, Census of the Philippine Islands, 1903, page 483:

     There were also in this city certain Sangleyes who had settled down there to sell their merchandise, so that they remained there from one year to another.

   • 1907, Emma Helen Blair, The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, →ISBN, page 136:

     They retired to the river of Tan-Chuy, with a prize which they made there, a small champan from China, which came from that kingdom to Hermosa Island to carry supplies and merchandise; in it was traveling a religious of St. Dominic, in the garb of a Sangley.

   • 1947, Edwin Wolf, Doctrina Christiana: the First Book Printed in the Philippines, Manila, 1593, →ISBN:

     What arouses my wonder most is, that when I arrived no Sangley knew how to paint anything; but now they have so perfected themselves in this art that they have produced marvelous works with both the brush and the chisel....

Related terms

• Mestizo de Sangley

Anagrams

• Ganleys

Spanish

Sangleys, labeled "来常 Sangley", as described in the 1590s Boxer Codex

Alternative forms

• sangley (standard)
• Sanglay, sanglay, Sang-lay, xiang-lay, Sang ley, sianglay, siang lay (obsolete)

Etymology

From Hokkien, possibly either:

• 常來 / 常来 (siâng lâi / siông lâi, literally “frequently comes”), as labeled in the Boxer Codex (1590) and explained in the Bocabulario de la lengua sangleya por las letraz de el A.B.C. (1617) as per Van der Loon (1967), from which Mandarin 常來人 / 常来人 (chángláirén) referring to Sangleys originates and consistent with Francisco de Sande (1576)'s description of “Throughout these islands they call the Chinese 'Sangleyes', meaning 'a people who come and go,' on account of their habit of coming annually to these islands to trade, or, as they say there, 'the regular port'.” as per Adelung (1817), Manuel (1948), and Go (2014-2015)
• 商來 / 商来 (siang lâi, literally “trader comes”), as explained in the Bocabulario de la lengua sangleya por las letraz de el A.B.C. (1617) as per Van der Loon (1967)
• 生理 (seng-lí, “business; livelihood”, IPA: /ɕiɪŋ³³ li⁵⁵⁴/) as in 生理人 (seng-lí-lâng, “merchant; tradesman; trafficker”), according to Go (2014-2015) and Manuel (1948) as “sieng-lí” recorded in Piñol (1937)
• 商旅 (siang-lú, “travelling merchant”), according to Manuel (1948) & Hofileña (2011)
• 送來 / 送来 (sàng lâi, literally “sent over”) or 生理人來 / 生理人来 (seng-lí-lâng lâi, literally “businessman comes”), according to Chan-Yap (1980).
• 誰來 / 谁来 (siâng lâi / sâng lâi, literally “who comes”), as per Norberto Romualdez in Manuel (1948) who says that “sangley is a Spanish corruption of sang lay, signifying "who comes", an expression used by the Chinese in the Islands to greet a ship coming from China.”

According to Quilis et al. (1997), Wenceslao Retana (1921) commented before (sic):

"(del chino xiang-lay, mercader.) adj. Nombre que en lo antiguo se dio en Filipinas a los mercaderes chinos, y que luego se hizo genérico de los de esta raza residentes en aquellas islas"

Van der Loon (1967) additionally surmises that perhaps it is not of Chinese origin.
Compare Tagalog Sanglay, Ilocano Sanglay, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sanˈɡlei/ [sãŋˈɡlei̯]
• Rhymes: -ei
• Syllabification: San‧gley

Adjective

Sangley (feminine Sangleya, masculine plural Sangleyes, feminine plural Sangleyas)

1. (Philippines, historical) Alternative form of sangley (“Chinese (historically pertaining to traders)”)

   Synonym: chino

Noun

Sangley m (plural Sangleyes)

1. (Philippines, historical) Alternative form of sangley (“ethnic Chinese person (person of pure Chinese ancestry, especially during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines)”)

   Synonym: chino

2. (Philippines, historical, archaic) Alternative form of sangley (“ethnic Chinese merchant”)

Derived terms

• indio sangley
• lengua sangleya
• mestizo de sangley

 

Further reading

• “sangley”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• sangley

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish Sangley, ultimately from Hokkien. Doublet of Sanglay.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /saŋˈlej/ [sɐn̪ˈleɪ̯]
• Rhymes: -ej
• Syllabification: Sang‧ley

Noun

Sangléy (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜅ᜔ᜎᜒᜌ᜔)

1. (historical) person of pure Chinese ancestry (especially during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines)
2. (archaic) Alternative form of Sanglay

See also

• langlang
• Tsino