First recorded in 1820–30, lila is from the Sanskrit word līlā play, sport, diversion
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The Sanskrit title derives from two words: turanga, meaning flowing time, movement or rhythm; and lila, or love, sport, the play of the gods.
From Time Magazine Archive
Its origin, however, is Sumerian, from /lila/, regarded as meaning "mist."
From The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria by Pinches, Theophilus Goldridge
It is not certain that this was the only visitation of the epidemic called lila.
From The Fijians A Study of the Decay of Custom by Thomson, Basil
The /lilu/, in Sumerian /lila/, is generally regarded as "the night-monster," the word being referred to the Semitic root /lîl/ or /layl/, whence the Hebrew /layil/, Arabic /layl/, "night."
From The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria by Pinches, Theophilus Goldridge
Now, as I have already said, the great chief of Mbau, Mbanuve, died of the lila, and was thereafter known as Mbale-i-vavalangi—the victim of the foreign disease.
From The Fijians A Study of the Decay of Custom by Thomson, Basil
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