Per VognsenCame across English 'lee' (meaning shelter from the elements) in a book I'm reading and thought it had to be a cognate of Danish 'læ' and 'ly'. From a quick search I can't find any other modern language with the 'ly' vs 'læ' distinction but I'm probably missing some.
Found some old newsgroup posts with people opining on ly and læ. The responses match my intuitions but my ear for Danish has deteriorated from under-use: https://dk.kultur.sprog.narkive.com/W66jvPh1/ly-og-lae.
Thomas Fach-Pedersen@pervognsen In my mind, a “læ” is something that provides “ly”. I think. Like a shelter provides shelter. It’s not words I use a lot 🙂