Talk:Velikiye Luki

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Translation of City's Name

I deleted the sentence about the city's name being translated as "the great meanders." Although this is technically possible (лука = bend, meander), the city's flag and coat of arms give us an important clue as to what the луки in the city's name are. The flag and coat of arms (can be seen on the Russian page for Belikie Luki) feature three bows (лук = bow), so really, the name most likely means "grand bows" or "great bows." — John 14:14, 18 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Did you see that the Russian page also gives an etymology for the name? Either meanders or from a Novgorod guy called "Luka". English is not the only language in which "bow" is ambiguous (eg Dutch "boog" can also mean either bend or the weapon). So, the coat of arms is presumably just a word play on two words which are etymologically connected. Well, they could have done worse. They could have taken a leek (like Wales) or a saddle. Have a look at this on-line dictionary of Russian: ЛУК, ЛУК and ЛУКА--Pan Gerwazy 09:23, 6 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I second that. According to my toponymic dictionary, "the great meanedrs" is currently considered to be the most solid explanation.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 13:31, 6 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You are both totally wrong. The word luki comes from Latvian lauki 'fields' so Velikije luki means 'the great fields' (Latvian Lielie lauki). Roberts7 21:10, 6 August 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Roberts7 (talk • contribs)

You are quite welcome to add this theory to the article along with a citation of a reliable source it came from.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 02:44, 7 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

139.222.112.200 (talk) 21:57, 10 March 2009 (UTC)this name comes from Lithuanian language meaning 'the wide planes/fields' and not meanders (In Lithuanian language 'laukai' means planes/fields and the river passing the city is Lovat which name comes from another Lithuanian word for the river bed - 'lova')...because in the years before slavic language and military invasion (not people!!!) this land was inhabited by Balts (and remained populated by Balts until they were completely rusified), there are many more Lithuanian toponims in the region...the same story is with the city StarGard in Pomerania (Pamare) which is half slavic (staryj) half Lithuanian (gardas) (the first part and less old is slavic which was put after occupation of those lands by slavs). Moreover, Latvians are Lithuanians too, just during the prolonged ocupation of these lands by germans and russians they developed half Lithuanian half germanoslavic language.[reply]