[28][29] The etymology of this particular word 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 vityaz.

[33] According to professor Leszek Bednarczuk, there existed a derivative word vỹtis, vỹčio in the Old Lithuanian language, which translates to English as pursuit (from persekiojimas), chase (from vijimasis).

[2][46][47][48] In the multilingual book of poetry Universitas lingvarum magno Palaemonii orbis et urbis hospiti, published by Vilnius University in 1729, the coat of arms of Lithuania in Lithuanian language is described as the Horse of Palemon (Zyrge Palemona).

[53] The word pogonia to describe the Lithuanian coat of arms in the Polish language for the first time appears in Marcin Bielski's chronicle, published in 1551.

[56] The emblem was described a century earlier, in a document of Supreme Duke Władysław III Jagiellon from 1442 in which he confirmed the rights of the Czartoryski, descendants of Karijotas, to use the armed horseman (Latin: sigillo eorum ducali frui, quo ex avo et patre ipsorum uti consueverunt, scilicet equo, cui subsidet vir armatus, gladium evaginatum in manu tenens; English: to enjoy their duke's seal, which they were accustomed to use from their grandfather and father, namely, a horse on which sits an armed man, holding a drawn sword in his hand[59]), as well as in Jan Długosz's Annales seu cronicae incliti Regni Poloniae [pl] or the early 16th-century Bychowiec Chronicle.

[67] Lithuanian mythologists believe that the bright rider on the white horse symbolizes the ghost of the ancestral warrior, reminiscent of core values and goals, giving strength and courage.

It describes it as an armed man on a white horse, on the red field, with a naked sword over his head as if he was chasing someone, as the author explains that is why it is called "погоня" (pohonia).

[4][74] The legend of the adoption of the Lithuanian coat of arms at the time of Narimantas in the version of Bychowiec Chronicle is repeated by later authors: Augustinus Rotundus, Maciej Stryjkowski, Bartosz Paprocki and later historians and heraldists of the 17th and 18th centuries.

[88] The leopards were depicted with lily-shaped tails, which symbolized a sovereign ruler, therefore such coins must have been minted after the Pact of Vilnius and Radom in 1401 when Vytautas became fully in charge of the Lithuanian affairs.

[94] Grand Duke Jogaila also rejected the Grand Prince of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy's offer to marry his daughter Sofia, convert Lithuania into an Orthodox state and to recognize himself as a vassal of Dmitry Donskoy, instead he chose Catholicism and married Queen Jadwiga of Poland, while also continuing to title himself as ruler of all the Rus' people, therefore minting coins with his portrait (as a horseman) on the obverse and a lion with a braid above him on the reverse, other Jogaila's coins features the Polish Eagle instead of his portrait on one side and a lion on the other side.

[95] Nevertheless, a fish–blossom symbol, depicted on the coins, can also be associated with an earlier date of 11 March 1388 when Pope Urban VI recognized the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vilnius, which was established by Grand Duke Jogaila.

[108] It is also possible that the new coat of arms was made in imitation of the Holy Cross relics from the sanctuary of Łysa Góra, and with this gesture the newly crowned king emphasised his sincere faith.

[111] Historian Edmundas Rimša, who analyzed the ancient coins, suggested that the Columns of Gediminas symbolize the Trakai Peninsula Castle Gates.

[111] In heraldry, the Columns of Gediminas were usually pictured in gold or yellow on a red field, while they were occasionally portrayed in silver or white since the second half of the 16th century.

[2] Firstly, around 1382, he changed the infantry on his coat of arms, inherited from his father Grand Duke Kęstutis, to a horseman, then made the portrait heraldic – in Vytautas' majestic seal (early 15th century), he is surrounded by the coat of arms of lands belonging to him, in one hand he holds a sword, which represents the power of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, in the other hand – a raised shield (on which a horseman is depicted), which, like an apple of royal power, symbolizes the Lithuanian state ruled by him.

[117] The history between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Jagiellonian dynasty and the Kingdom of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia is closely related as Władysław III Jagiellon, the eldest son of Władysław II Jagiełło and his Lithuanian wife Sophia of Halshany,[118] was crowned as the King of Hungary and King of Croatia on 15 May 1440 in Visegrád, moreover, following his father's death, he also inherited the title of the Supreme Duke (Supremus Dux) of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, held it in 1434–1444 and presented himself with it, as such share of powers was agreed in the Union of Horodło of 1413 between his father and Grand Duke Vytautas the Great.

[119][120][71] The Royal Seal of Władysław III Jagiellon includes a Lithuanian Vytis (Pogonia) with wings laid out above the coat of arms of Hungary and alongside the Polish Eagle.

[24] During Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon's reign in Lithuania from 1492 to 1506, the depiction of the knight's direction was established – the horse was always galloping to the left (in the heraldic sense – to the right).

[123] At the beginning of the 15th century, the colors and composition of the seal became uniform: on a red field a white (silver) charging knight with a sword raised above his head, with a blue shield with a Double Golden Cross to his left shoulder (during the reign of Kęstutaičiai dynasty – red shield with the golden Columns of Gediminas[124]); horse bridles, leather belts and a short girdle – colored in blue.

[134] In the Soviet times, the 1863–64 January Uprising was interpreted as a class struggle between peasantry and landed aristocracy, while since 1990, it came to be seen in Lithuania as a strife for liberation from the Russian rule.

[145] As a result, the participants of the conference did not decide on the colors of the flag, therefore assigned this question to a commission formed by the Council of Lithuania that consisted of Jonas Basanavičius, Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, and Tadas Daugirdas.

[51][146] On 19 April 1918, the commission accepted a Lithuanian flag project which consisted of three equal width horizontal lines of yellow, green, and red colors.

[145] At the meeting of the same day, it was proposed to raise the tricolor flag of the Lithuanian state above the Tower of the Gediminas' Castle, which was done in the middle of 1918 after difficult negotiations with the German authorities.

[145] Following the occupation of Vilnius by Soviet Russia, the Lithuanian institutions were evacuated to the temporary capital Kaunas in the first days of January 1919.

[2] The Columns of the Gediminids and the Double Cross of the Jagiellonians were particularly widely used in the first half of the 20th century following the restoration of the independent state of Lithuania on 16 February 1918.

[23][24] To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Grand Duke Vytautas the Great, flags decorated with the Columns of the Gediminids were hoisted in Lithuanian cities and towns in 1930.

Nevertheless, it re-established the original colors and metals (red, blue, silver, and gold), dating to the reign of Grand Duke Vytautas the Great, but placed the horse and rider in an ostensibly more "defensive" posture, airs above the ground, rather than leaping forward and sword simply elevated rather than poised to strike.

[165] Recently adopted coats of arms of Vilnius and Panevėžys counties use different color schemes and add additional details to the basic image of the knight.

[171] However, in the Belarusian version, the two-barred cross depicted on the horseman's shild has uneven bars, the saddle blanket is in the Renaissance style, the horse's tail points down instead of up, and azure is absent from it altogether.

Aczkiewicz, Algiminowicz, Algminowicz, Alkimowicz, Biciutek, Byciutek, Boremlski, Boremski, Chowanski, Czartoryski, Dowmont, Dulski, Hurko, Gediminids, Izasławski, Izopolski, Klajowski, Kobryński, Konierewicz, Kopylski, Korecki, Korjatowicz, Koryatowicz, Koszerski, Koszyrski, Kowelski, Kurakin, Krzywicki, Krzywiecki, Krzywięcki, Lingwieniewicz, Litwinowicz, Łukomlski, Mackiewicz, Morski, Możarowski – Możajski, Mścisławski, Niedzielski, Nowosielski, Olelkowicz, Olgierd, Plusko, Pluszkow, Pokłoński, Postawka, Radzikiewicz, Rybicki, Sakalauskas, Sanguszko, Słucki, Sudwoj, Świderski, Trubecki, Wandza, Worotyniec, Zasławski The Lithuanian coat of arms with some modifications was adopted by several Gediminid Lithuanian, Polish and Russian noble families, namely Czartoryski,[182] Sanguszko,[183] Chowanski,[184] Trubetskoy[185] and Golitsyn.