Dautenis is one of several local Jatving names, pieced together by linguists, that refer to two lakes in the Suwalki Region, now called Dowcień.

   Dautenis in the Jatving language may have meant something akin to "lake that freezes quickly and firmly" - a fitting name, since longtime dwellers of the area surrounding the Dowcień lakes say that they can ride horses and sleds on the Dowcień lakes much earlier in the winter than on other lakes in the region...

   Another less scientific but equally intriguing explanation for the exotic-sounding Baltic name is "lake of spirits", that is, the lake of Jatving Daus. The pagan Balts apparently believed that, after death, human spirits reside in sacred lakes or rivers for a period of purification...
   Which of these explanations is the more accurate? That does not seem particularly important... Both are interesting, both are magical; we have accepted both. ;-) We can be sure, though, that the name can only be encountered on the former Jatving territory and is in all certainty a Jatving name.

   For us, Dautenis is not only a lake at which we have spent much of our lives; it is primarily a symbol of the recovery of words, symbols, songs, and melodies long forgotten...