baltă

See also: Appendix:Variations of "balta"

Romanian

Etymology

It is generally agreed to be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-H- (“to burn bright, gleam; white, pale”), but there is disagreement whether the word is one of the earliest Romanian loans from Proto-Slavic *bolto (“swamp”), or whether it is a substrate word. Possibly borrowed from Albanian baltë (“mud”) or its immediate Proto-Albanian/Illyrian ancestor. Cognate with Aromanian baltã, Italian palta (“swamp”) and Greek βάλτος (váltos, “swamp”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbal.tə]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

baltă f (plural bălți)

1. puddle, pond, pool (especially muddy); also swamp

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	baltă	balta	bălți	bălțile
genitive-dative	bălți	bălții	bălți	bălților
vocative	baltă, balto		bălților

Derived terms

• băltoacă
• de baltă

Descendants

• → Gagauz: balta

See also

• mlaștină, smârc, bahnă