There are three main hypotheses on the origin of this word: (a) from the same source as sveķi (“resin”) (q.v.): Proto-Indo-European *sʷekʷ-os (“juice, resin”), whence Proto-Baltic *sʷek-as > *sveke, plural *sveki with a number of variants, among which svece; (b) from an earlier *zvece, cognate with Lithuanian žvãkė (“candle”), both from Proto-Baltic *žvak-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰʷokʷ- (“to shine”); or (c) borrowed from Old East Slavic свѣча (svěča) (cf. Russian све́ча (svéča)), from Proto-Slavic *svěťa (but note that ě should yield ie or ē in Latvian, not a simple e, which weakens this hypothesis).