Lion

Late 12c., from Old French lion "lion," also figuratively "hero" (12c.), from Latin leonem (nominative leo) "lion; the constellation Leo," from Greek leon (genitive leontos), a word from a non-Indo-European language, perhaps Semitic (compare Hebrew labhi "lion," plural lebaim; Egyptian labai, lawai "lioness"). Old English had the word straight from Latin as leo (Anglian lea). The Latin word was borrowed throughout Germanic (compare Old Frisian lawa; Middle Dutch leuwe, Dutch leeuw; Old High German lewo, German Löwe); it is also found in most other European languages, often via Germanic (Old Church Slavonic livu, Polish lew, Czech lev, Old Irish leon, Welsh llew). Lowse me, lauerd, ut of þe liunes muð. ["St. Margaret of Antioch," c. 1200] Extended 17c. to American big cats. Paired alliteratively with lamb since late 14c. Used figuratively from c. 1200 in English of lion-like persons, in an approving sense, "one who is fiercely brave," and a disapproving one, "tyrannical leader, greedy devourer." Lion-hearted is from 1708. Lion's share "the greatest portion" is attested from 1701. The image of the lion's mouth as a place of great danger is from early 13c. Sometimes used ironically of other animals (for example Cotswold lion "sheep" (16c.; lyons of Cotteswold is from mid-15c.). In early 19c., to avoid advertising breaches of the game laws, hare, when served as food was listed as lion.

---

The lion.

Popularity	Name	Birth Year	Description
1	William the Lion	1142	King of the Scots from 1165 to 1214
2	Henry the Lion	1129	Welf dynasty, Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII
3	Lion Wasczyk	1994	German actor
4	Lion Feuchtwanger	1884	German writer
5	Roaring Lion	1908	Calypsonian
6	Laura Lion	1983	Retired Czech pornographic actress
7	Mad Lion		Jamaican musician
8	Lion Gardiner	1599	Engineer
9	P. Lion	1959	Italian singer and musician
10	Mandy Lion		German singer
11	Luis de Lion	1939
12	Lion Sokar	1990	German actor
13	Robert Lion	1934	French high-ranking civil servant in france
14	Yves Lion	1945	French architect
15	Leon M. Lion	1879	British actor
16	Lion Kaak	1991	Dutch footballer
17	L-Fresh the lion
18	Lion Philips	1794
19	Margo Lion	1899	German singer and actress
20	Lion D	1982	Italian singer
21	Flora Lion	1878	British artist
22	Richard the Lion
23	Jules Lion	1809	American photographer
24	Leo the Lion	1982	British singer
25	Bernard Lion	1939
26	Joel Lion	1964	Israeli diplomat
27	Karl-Hermann Lion	1911	German officer and Knight's Cross recipient
28	Alexander Lion	1870	Co-founder of the German scout movement
29	Ferdinand Lion	1883	Swiss journalist and writer (1883-1968)
30	Henri Lion	1895
31	Teddy Lion	1960	Guitar , Drums, Keyboards, Bass Guitar, Mandolin, Bouzouki, Vocals
32	Lion Solser	1877	Dutch actor and comedian
33	Lion Axwijk	1984	Footballer
34	Christophe Lion	1971	French basketball player
35	Lion van Minden	1880	Dutch fencer
36	Jean Dieudonné Lion	1771	French general
37	Pierre-Joseph Lion		French painter
38	Jean Lion	1933	French association football player
39	Eugène Lion	1826
40	Lion Ullmann	1804
41	Eugene Lion	1933
42	Conquering Lion	1965	British record producer
43	Roger Lion	1882	French film director and screenwriter (1882-1934)
44	Justus Lion	1829
45	Heinrich Albert Lion	1796	German teacher and classical philologist
46	Jeanne Lion	1877	French actress
47	Johnny Lion	1941	Dutch singer
48	Hans Lion	1904	Austrian fencer
49	Kristina Lion	1976	Latvian pornographic film actress
50	Dennis Lion	1969	Dutch football manager
51	Marco Lion	1956	Italian politician
52	Johann Lion	1972	Footballer
53	Rudolf Lion	1843	Bookseller, publisher
54	Julius A. Lion	1927	French crime writer
55	Pierre de Lyon
56	Lion Schulman	1851	Dutch painter
57	Lion Israel Enthoven	1787
58	Lion Schweers	1996	German football player
59	Lion Wagenaar	1855
60	Izaak Jacob Lion	1821
61	Élisabeth Lion	1904	French aviator
62	Hilde Lion	1893
63	Kurt Lion	1904	American physicist
64	Michael Lion	1958	Swedish writer
65	Claude François du Lyon		Governor of Guadeloupe from 1664 to 1668
66	Johannes Matthijs Lion	1856
67	Charley Lion
68	Louis Lion	1913	Belgian politician
69	Alfred Lion	1853	Belgian politician