𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰

Ultimately from Latin leō. Saskia Pronk-Tiethoff reconstructed the term in 2013 as *liwa before being aware of its attestation (which was discovered as a genitive plural laiwanē in the Gothica Bononiensia, which were first published around that very time), attributing the Slavic forms to a Gothic intermediary based on a hypothetical i-vocalism as she thought would be expected from a Gothic term derived from leō. The form laiwa is not an entirely certain reading due to the poor legibility of the manuscript; the correct reading may still be liwa, but Falluomini (2017) favours the form with -ai-.

Some Gothic given names attested in Latinized form may also contain this term. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛ.wa/

𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰 • (laiwa) m

1. (hapax) lion (animal)
   • 6th century, anonymous author, folio 1 verso (after Falluomini 2017) of the Gothica Bononiensia sermon (referring here to Daniel 6:22, 27):

     ... 𐌸𐌿𐌴𐌹 𐌳𐌰𐌽𐌹𐌴𐌻 𐌿𐍃 𐌱[𐌰]𐌻𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽𐌴 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌴 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌼 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽𐌴 𐌳𐌿 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍃𐌻𐌹𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 𐌲𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌳𐌴𐍃.

     ... þuei daniēl us b[a]ljōndanē laiwanē munþam manwjanē du fraslindan ganasidēs.

     You who saved Daniel from the mouths of roaring lions ready to devour [him]

May theoretically have been either masculine or neuter, but as Latin leō and Koine Greek λέων (léōn) are both masculine, the Gothic term is probably masculine as well.

• 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍃 (dius, “wild animal”)

• 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍉 (fauhō, “fox”)
• 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐍃 (wulfs, “wolf”)

• → Proto-Slavic: *lьvъ (see there for further descendants)

• 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌾𐍉𐌽 (baljōn, “to roar”)

• Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia E. (2013) The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic‎ (in English), Amsterdam - New York: Rodopi, →ISBN