I've been pronouncing it la-ever-age. And everyone I know pronounces it this way as well. One day I heard someone pronounce it lee-ver-age. I was wondering which pronouncation is correct or both ? To me the second pronunciation sounds odd.
The root word is simetimes is pronounced leever instead of levver. I think it's a UKGBNI pronunciation. The folks who produce Vaseline and Ben & Jerry's ice cream pronounce it that way. (Do you suppose they changed the name from Leveer Bothers to Unilever because one of them died?)
Someone probably maintains a list of words like lever and protein (pro-teen or pro-tea-un) which are pronounced differently. Why would they do such a thing? I don't know, but it's certainly a better hobby than what Ed Gein had, and let's not talk about my activities. There comes a point where idiosyncracies become idiot-syncracies