balts
Dutch
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]balts m (uncountable)
- courtship display (especially by birds)
Related terms
[edit]Latvian
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From an unattested verb *balt (“to become white”) (of which balts originally was the past participle form; compare Lithuanian bálti, and Latvian 17th-century derived verb baltīt (“to make, paint something white”), later replaced by other verbs, derived from balts: from Proto-Baltic *bal-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰol- (“shiny, white”). Cognates include Lithuanian báltas, Sudovian bałtas. In several Indo-European languages, reflexes of the stem *bʰel-, *bʰol- are often found in words relating to water or humid places, probably due to their shiny, reflective surfaces: Illyrian *balta (“marsh, swamp”), Albanian baltë (“mud, sludge, swamp”), Proto-Slavic *bolto (“swamp, lake”) (Old Church Slavonic блато (blato, “lake”), Russian болото (boloto, “marsh, swamp”) (dialectal “puddle, lake”), Czech bláto (“mud; pl. swamp”), Polish błoto (“mud, swamp”)). This usage is also attested in Baltic languages, as in, e.g., Old Prussian placename Namuynbalt (swamp). It left also traces in Latvian, in the names of lakes or swamps (Baltenis, Baltiņa purvs), and is a possible source of the word balti (“Balts, Baltic”).[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Color_icon_white.svg/125px-Color_icon_white.svg.png)
balts (definite baltais, comparative baltāks, superlative visbaltākais, adverb balti)
- white (having the color of, e.g., snow or milk)
- balts papīrs ― white paper
- balts kā sniegs, krīts, piens, kauls ― white as snow, chalk, milk, bone
- dzīvnieks ar baltu spalvu ― an animal with white fur, feathers
- baltais zaķis ― white hare
- nokrāsot durvis baltas ― to paint the door white
- balta kafija ― white coffee (i.e., with milk or cream)
- Baltais nams ― the (American) White House
- baltais karogs ― white flag (= symbol of peace, truce)
- white (light, not dark; without color; gray)
- baltās naktis ― white nights (polar nights in summer, without darkness)
- baltie asinsķermenīši ― white (blood) cells
- baltais vīns ― white wine
- balta bārda ― white beard
- galva balta kā ābele ― head white as an apple tree (= gray hair)
- white (a member of the Caucasian race)
- baltā rase ― white (= Caucasian) race
- baltie kolonizatori ― white colonizers, settlers
- (usually clothes) clean
- uzvilkt sestdienā baltu veļu ― to wear white linen (= clean clothes) on Saturday
- (Russian civil war) counterrevolutionary, member of the white guard
- balto armija, balto karaspēks ― the white army, white troops
- balto uzbrukums ― a white attack
Declension
[edit]masculine (vīriešu dzimte) | feminine (sieviešu dzimte) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular (vienskaitlis) |
plural (daudzskaitlis) |
singular (vienskaitlis) |
plural (daudzskaitlis) | ||||||
nominative (nominatīvs) | balts | balti | balta | baltas | |||||
accusative (akuzatīvs) | baltu | baltus | baltu | baltas | |||||
genitive (ģenitīvs) | balta | baltu | baltas | baltu | |||||
dative (datīvs) | baltam | baltiem | baltai | baltām | |||||
instrumental (instrumentālis) | baltu | baltiem | baltu | baltām | |||||
locative (lokatīvs) | baltā | baltos | baltā | baltās | |||||
vocative (vokatīvs) | — | — | — | — | |||||
Antonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]See also
[edit]balts | pelēks | melns |
sarkans, sārts | oranžs; brūns | dzeltens |
zaļš | ||
zilzaļš, ciāns | zils | |
violets; zilganviolets, indigo | fuksīns; violets | rozā |
Etymology 2
[edit]The mainstream opinion on this word is that it comes from old uses of the stem balts (“white”) (q.v.) in names of places containing water, giving rise to the name of the Baltic Sea (already Latin Mare Balticum); it is possible that *balt- in Old Prussian placenames referred originally to the sea or coastal area. Another suggestion is that Latin Mare Balticum is to be derived from Old Norse balti, Danish balte, from Latin balteum (“belt”) (whence German Belt (“sea strait”)), perhaps because of this sea's narrowness, or because of the many islands and straits between islands and the continent.[1]
Noun
[edit]balts m (1s declension)
- Balt, a Baltic person, someone from the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia)
- (chiefly in the plural) the Balts (Latvians, Lithuanians, and other related people; the Indo-European people from which Latvians and Lithuanians descend)
- (genitive plural) Baltic, pertaining to the Baltic states and their people; pertaining to the ancient Balts
- baltu tautas ― the Baltic peoples
- baltu valodas ― the Baltic languages
- baltu valodniecība ― Baltic linguistics
Usage notes
[edit]This word is almost always used in the plural; the singular forms, though existing, are only sporadically attested (probably due to potential confusion with the adjective balts (“white”)).
Declension
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “balts”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN
Samogitian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-.
Adjective
[edit]balts (feminine balta)
Swedish
[edit]Noun
[edit]balts
- Latvian etymologies from LEV
- Dutch terms borrowed from German
- Dutch terms derived from German
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɑlts
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch uncountable nouns
- Dutch masculine nouns
- Latvian terms derived from Proto-Baltic
- Latvian terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Latvian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latvian words with level intonation
- Latvian terms with audio links
- Latvian lemmas
- Latvian adjectives
- Latvian terms with usage examples
- Latvian terms derived from Old Norse
- Latvian terms derived from Latin
- Latvian nouns
- Latvian masculine nouns
- Latvian first declension nouns
- lv:Whites
- Samogitian terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Samogitian lemmas
- Samogitian adjectives
- sgs:Colors
- Swedish non-lemma forms
- Swedish noun forms