Lofou is a village whose name easily refers to its location (Greek word 'lofos' means hill), but there is also some further interesting information about its history. After all, the village has a long and rich history, since it was among the settlements that come across the historical documents about Cyprus from back in the end of the 15th century and it is related with a medieval settlement that ceased to exist.
If the 800 meters above the sea level explain the connection to the name of the hill on which it is located, the reasons for using the genitive case of the noun are less obvious. Of course, the initial name of the village was Lofos, as it is stated in data about the students of the primary school until the beginning of the 20th century. But in the spoken language, people used to refer to it as the "town of Lofou" (applying the feminine gender of the word town to the masculine word lofos, too). Thus, the village ended up with the name Lofou.
Of course, the researcher Mas Latrie (1861) refers to the village by the name Loffou, even if it did not appear on medieval maps, since there was another settlement by the name Euressi in its place, which probably hosted the residents of Lofou after some disaster in the 16th century. The village came back to life thanks to some shepherds, at Finikas area (south to Lofou), who would use the area to rest and they eventually created permanent residencies there.
Find out more information , photos and video about the village in this extent tribute article here.
Header photo: @kairisseduards
