Where the word praya came from and how it became part of place names in Hong Kong

Summertime means heading out to the beach, the seaside – la plage (French), la playa (Castilian), la spiaggia (Italian) and, in Portuguese-speaking countries, na praia (from pre-1400s Old Portuguese “praya” and post-classical Latin “plagia”).

Global trade and expansion by the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries through maritime exploration led to their language becoming a lingua franca in Asia and Africa by the mid-16th century. It was used in colonial administrations and among Europeans. The Portuguese word “praia” was first documented in English (as “appraya”, “prea”) in correspon­dence of the Royal African Company, in West Africa, in the 1860s. The Sailor’s Word-book(1867), an alphabetic digest of nautical terms, lists “praia” as a beach or strand on Portuguese coasts.