βαλιός

The formation is similar to πολιός (poliós, “grey”) and other colour adjectives. Since *b- is rare in Proto-Indo-European, it has been considered a loanword from another language, perhaps Thracian, Phrygian and Illyrian. If so, the genuinely Greek cognate would have to be φαλιός (phaliós, “with a white spot”). Pokorny posits Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny, white”). Also Comparing Albanian ballë (“horse with a white spot on its forehead”), close to Proto-Albanian *balā, or from it.

βᾰλῐός • (baliós) m (feminine βᾰλῐᾱ́, neuter βᾰλῐόν); first/second declension

1. spotted, dappled, mottled

   Synonyms: ποικῐ́λος (poikílos), ῥᾰντός (rhantós)

2. swift, rapid, fast

• Βᾰλῐ́ος (Balíos)

• “βαλιός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “βαλιός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• βαλιός in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βαλιός in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN