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, 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. this does not look like the regular outcome expected from a direct borrowing of leō

• 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, Amsterdam - New York: Rodopi, →ISBN