balts
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from German Balz.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bɑlts/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: balts
- Rhymes: -ɑlts
Noun
balts m (uncountable)
- courtship display (especially by birds)
Related terms
- baltsen
- baltsgedrag
- baltstijd
- baltsvlucht
Latvian
Etymology 1
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
- IPA(key): [bālts]
| (file) |
Adjective
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
| 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
- melns
Derived terms
- baltais lācis
- baltais punduris
- baltmaize, balta maize
- baltums
- iebalts
- sniegbalts
Related terms
- baltiņš
See also
| balts | pelēks | melns |
| sarkans, sārts | oranžs; brūns | dzeltens |
| zaļš | ||
| zilzaļš, ciāns | zils | |
| violets; zilganviolets, indigo | fuksīns; violets | rozā |
Etymology 2
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
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
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
| singular (vienskaitlis) | plural (daudzskaitlis) | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative (nominatīvs) | balts | balti |
| accusative (akuzatīvs) | baltu | baltus |
| genitive (ģenitīvs) | balta | baltu |
| dative (datīvs) | baltam | baltiem |
| instrumental (instrumentālis) | baltu | baltiem |
| locative (lokatīvs) | baltā | baltos |
| vocative (vokatīvs) | balt | balti |
Derived terms
- Baltija
References
- Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “balts”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN
Samogitian
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-.
Adjective
balts (feminine balta)
- white