# balts
## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Balz.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /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”).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [bālts]
* Audio:(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

##### Antonyms

* melns

##### Derived terms

* baltais lācis
* baltais punduris
* baltmaize, balta maize
* baltums
* iebalts
* sniegbalts

##### Related terms

* baltiņš

##### See also

Colors in Latvian · krāsas (layout · text) :
| 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.

#### 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”)).

##### Derived terms

* Baltija

### References

* 1 2 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

## Swedish
### Noun

balts
* indefinite genitive singular of balt