Where does “lai” come from?
lai (Middle English) comes from Old French lai, from Latin lacus, from New Latin lacrimalis, from Latin lācrima, from Old Latin dacrima, from Proto-Italic *d(r)(k)akrunā, from Proto-Indo-European dáḱru-, from Proto-Indo-European dr̥ḱ-h₂eḱru- — eye bitter.
Ancestry of “lai”, step by step