Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/bolto

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Most likely substantivized^[1] from Proto-Balto-Slavic *bálˀtas (“faint, white”). Cognate with Lithuanian báltas (“white”), balà (“swamp”), Latvian balts (“white”), and the second part of Old Prussian placename Namuyn-balt.

The semantic connection between "white" and "swamp, mud" is not obvious, but has been attested in many languages. Beside the mentioned Lithuanian, also in e.g., Old Polish biel (“mud, swamp”) (< *bělь, from *bělъ (“white”)). This is probably due to the widespread presence of the marsh grass called cottongrass (genus Eriophorum), whose the white fluffy seed heads are white, or the color of the dried clay taking light hue, depending on soil.

Though formally and semantically derivable from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelH- (“white”), with cognates such as Albanian baltë (“mud”), Romanian baltă (“mud, swamp”) and Greek βάλτος (váltos, “swamp”), it is often considered an Illyrian substratum word (or from another, unidentified substrate language; cf. Proto-Slavic *bala (“marsh”)) due to the fact that most of the cognates are restricted to the Balkan peninsula, or its surroundings. However, these can also be borrowings from early Slavic; indirect evidence shows that the Slavic liquid metathesis and pleophony happened well after the spread of Slavic to the Balkans and the word must have been pronounced as *balta or *bolto as recently as the late 8th century.

*bòlto n^[2][3][4][5]

1. swamp
2. mud

• *bolna (“faintness; clump of mud”)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: болото (boloto)
    • Old Ruthenian: болото (boloto)
      • Belarusian: бало́та (balóta)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: болото (boloto)
      • Ukrainian: боло́то (bolóto)
    • Russian: боло́то (bolóto)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: блато (blato)

    Glagolitic: ⰱⰾⰰⱅⱁ (blato)

    • → Russian: бла́то (bláto)
  • Bulgarian: бла́то (bláto)
  • Macedonian: бла́то (bláto)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: бла̏то

    Latin script: blȁto

  • Slovene: bláto (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: bláto
    • Czech: bláto
      • Bohemian (Chod dialect): bláto
      • Moravian (Mistřice): bu̯ato
  • Kashubian: błoto
  • Old Polish: błoto
    • Polish: błoto
  • Slovak: blato
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: błoto
    • Upper Sorbian: błóto

• Non-Slavic:
  • ⇒ Hungarian: Balaton (from derivative *boltьno)
  • → Yiddish: בלאָטע (blote)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “болото”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “болото”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 101
• Sławski, Franciszek, editor (1974), “*bolto”, in Słownik prasłowiański [Proto-Slavic Dictionary] (in Polish), volume 1 (a – bьzděti), Wrocław: Ossolineum, page 311
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1975), “*bolto”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 2 (*bez – *bratrъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 179
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “блато”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 54
• “baltas”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012