lokys

From Proto-Baltic *talk-, *tlāk- (with reduction of the “difficult” cluster tl to l), from Proto-Indo-European *tel-k-, *tl-ek- (“to push, to hit, to kick, to trample”). The original meaning of this word was therefore “trampler,” “stomper,” “pounder,” showing that it was a descriptive term that replaced (probably for taboo reasons) an earlier word for “bear” (cf. Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos, whence Latin ursus, Ancient Greek ἄρκτος (árktos), Sanskrit ऋक्ष (ṛ́kṣa)), which left no traces in Baltic. (An earlier theory, which related lācis to the verb lakt “to lick,” i.e., the “(honey) licker,” is not reconcilable with the Old Prussian cognate.) Cognates include Latvian lācis, Old Prussian clokis (klokis) (< *tlokis; cf. place names like Tlokumpelk (“bear swamp”)), Sudovian łukas.

• IPA^(key): [loˈkʲiːs]

lokỹs m (plural lokiaĩ) stress pattern 3

1. bear (animal)
2. sloven, slob (untidy person)

• akiniúotasis lokỹs
• baltàsis lokỹs
• himalajinis lokys
• ilgalūpis lokỹs
• juodàsis lokỹs
• malajinis lokys
• rudàsis lokỹs
• urvìnis lokỹs