page_title: Coat of arms of Lithuania
section_title: Origins of the word Vytis
hierarchical_section_title: Coat of arms of Lithuania / Origins of the word Vytis
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Fragment fryzu heraldycznego przedstawiającego herb Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego namalowany w XIV wieku w północnej części prezbiterium katedry w Sandomierzu. Jest to najstarsze barwne przedstawienie herbu Litwy.Lietuvių: Frizo, vaizduojančio Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės herbą, fragmentas, nutapytas XIV amžiuje, šiaurinėje Sandomiežo katedros presbiterijoje. Tai seniausias spalvotas Lietuvos herbo atvaizds.
context_page_description: The coat of arms of Lithuania, consisting of an armour-clad knight on horseback holding a sword and shield, is also known as Vytis.
  Article 15 of the Constitution of Lithuania, approved by national referendum in 1992, stipulates, "The Coat of Arms of the State shall be a white Vytis on a red field". The heraldic shield features the field gules with an armoured knight on a horse salient argent. The knight is holding in his dexter hand a sword argent above his head. A shield azure hangs on the sinister shoulder of the knight with a double cross/two-barred cross or on it. The horse saddle, straps, and belts are azure. The hilt of the sword and the fastening of the sheath, the stirrups, the curb bits of the bridle, the horseshoes, as well as the decoration of the harness, are or.
  The blazon is the following:
  Gules, a knight armed cap-à-pie mounted on a horse salient argent, brandishing a sword proper and maintaining a shield azure charged with a cross of Lorraine Or.
context_section_description: It is unknown for certain what Lithuania's coat or arms was initially called; Edmundas Rimša claims that the Ruthenian word Pogonia was used for it for the first time in the 16th century.
  The earliest known Lithuanian name for the coat of arms is a 17th-century translation of Pogonia by Konstantinas Sirvydas as Waikimas ("Vaikymas" in the modern Lithuanian orthography), which was used until the 19th century together with Pagaunia.
  The origins of the Lithuanian proper noun Vytis are not clear either. At the dawn of the Lithuanian National Revival, Simonas Daukantas employed the term wytis, referring to the crest in this way for the first time in his historical piece Budą Senowęs Lietuwiû kalneniu ir Żemaitiû, published in 1846. The etymology of this particular name is not universally accepted; it is either a direct translation of the Polish Pogoń, a common noun constructed from the Lithuanian verb vyti ("to chase"), or, less likely, a derivative from the East Slavic title of the knight, vytiaz'. The first presumption, raised by the linguist Pranas Skardžius in 1937, is challenged by some, since Pogoń does not actually mean "chasing (knight)". In support of the second proposal, the Lithuanian language has words with the stem  -vyt in such personal names as Vytenis; furthermore, vytis has a structure common to words constructed from verbs.
  In 1884, Mikalojus Akelaitis coined the Lithuanian name Vytis for the coat of arms in the newspaper Auszra. This name came to popular use and was eventually legitimized and became official in the independent Republic of Lithuania.
  Old Prussian word vi̇tingas had a meaning of a nobleman, knight.
  In the Russophone world and the East Slavic culture there is a similar word Vityaz which means a brave knight or a bold hero.  According to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, that word is derived from the Old Germanic Witing. In western South Slavic languages (Slovenian, Croatian/Serbian/Montenegrin and Macedonian) vitez denotes the lowest feudal rank, a knight.
caption: One of the oldest colorful Vytis depiction (14th century).
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