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From Proto-Baltic*tlāk- (with reduction of the “difficult” cluster tl to l), and cognate with Latvianlācis, Old Prussianclokis(klokis) (< *tlokis), Tlokunpelk(“Prussian placename”, literally “bear swamp”), Sudovianłukas. The term replaced the original word for bear, Proto-Indo-European*h₂ŕ̥tḱos (which may have survived as a fossilized compound in the word irštvà(“bear's den”), as part of a taboo seen in many other other Indo-European branches. The Baltic terms are of unclear further origin:[1]
Perhaps related to Proto-Slavic*dòlka(“hair”), assuming an earlier form of *tlaka for the Slavic. This is preferred by Derksen.
Connected to làkti(“to lick, lap”), with bears being conceived as “(honey) lickers”; this is formally irreconcilable with the Old Prussian cognate above.
According to Kortlandt, related to tìlti(“to become silent”), assuming an earlier form of tìlkti for the latter. This is phonetically bold and semantically tenuous.
Smoczynski, doubting the originality of the anlaut tl- of the Old Prussian forms, instead derives the Baltic terms from an originally adjectival unattested compound žmoglokỹs(“man-mauling”) > "man-mauler", with the initial part of the compound (žmogùs(“human”)) dropping out, taking the second part as being from Proto-Indo-European*leh₂k-(“to tear, rend”) and comparing Latinlacer(“lacerated”). This assumption regarding the Old Prussian anlaut is phonetically bold, and the derivation from *leh₂k-, otherwise unattested in Baltic, is somewhat ad hoc.
