“The words lay, laity, layman come from the Greek word laos which means people. “Laikos,” layman, is the one who belongs to the people, who is a member of an organic and organized community. It is, in other words  not a negative  but a highly positive term. It implies the ideas of full, responsible, active membership as opposed, for example, to the status of a candidate.”

(Fr Alexander Schmemann, ‘Clergy and Laity‘ )