Ultimately from Latin leΕ. Saskia Pronk-Tiethoff reconstructed the term in 2013 as *liwa before being aware of its attestation (which was discovered as a genitive plural laiwanΔ in the Gothica Bononiensia, 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 leΕ. 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. this does not look like the regular outcome expected from a direct borrowing of leΕ
π»π°πΉπ π° β’ (laiwa) m
May theoretically have been either masculine or neuter, but as Latin leΕ and Koine Greek Ξ»ΞΟΞ½ (lΓ©Εn) are both masculine, the Gothic term is probably masculine as well.
Masculine an-stem | ||
---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |
Nominative | π»π°πΉπ
π° laiwa |
π»π°πΉπ
π°π½π laiwans |
Vocative | π»π°πΉπ
π° laiwa |
π»π°πΉπ
π°π½π laiwans |
Accusative | π»π°πΉπ
π°π½ laiwan |
π»π°πΉπ
π°π½π laiwans |
Genitive | π»π°πΉπ
πΉπ½π laiwins |
π»π°πΉπ
π°π½π΄ laiwanΔ |
Dative | π»π°πΉπ
πΉπ½ laiwin |
π»π°πΉπ
π°πΌ laiwam |