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proper noun

Louvain

/lu.vɛ̃/

proper noun/lu.vɛ̃/

Leuven (the largest city and provincial capital of Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium)

Related: Louvain-la-Neuve, louvaniste

Borrowed from Medieval Latin Luvanium, Latinized from a Viking/North Germanic or Frankish name *Loven, composed of *lo (“forest, clearing”) + *hvein (“swamp, marsh”), from Proto-Germanic *hwainō, *hwin- (“swamp; moor”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweyn- (“to soil; mud; filth”), thus meaning "swamp near the forest."

Louvain — French Dictionary | Passage