barză

• bardăș, bardoș — regional, Oltenia

Compare Aromanian bardzu (“white (of horses and mules)”): both it and the Romanian word may derive from Proto-Albanian *bardza (“white”), akin to Albanian bardhë (“white”).

Another theory suggests that its origin is a Vulgar Latin root *gardea, from Latin ardea (compare Spanish garza (“heron”), Portuguese garça, also French barge (“godwit”)). The confusion of g and b is somewhat unusual, but may be explained as a Balkan influence. Other cases in Romanian include limbă, rug, negură, întreba (compare also Sardinian bula, from Latin gula).

A third proposal is borrowing from a Dacian *barza meaning "stork", derived from a Proto-Indo-European root *sr̥ǵos, also reflected in e.g. English stork, Ancient Greek πελαργός (pelargós).

Alternatively, the Romanian word may derive from Paleo-Balkan, possibly from or via Dacian, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰórh₁ǵos (“gleaming, shining”). Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian excludes the root *barza, requiring instead *bardza. The sound change from Proto-Indo-European "sr̥" is only attested for Thracian in βρία (vría, “city”) but, due to its conspicuity, it is uncertain whether it occurred as well in Dacian and with a vowel in between. These etymologies don't explain the regional variants bardăș and bardoș, that provide evidence for in the term of origin and could solely be explained by another borrowing from early unattested Old Albanian *bardë or bardhë.

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• IPA^(key): /ˈbar.zə/

barză f (plural berze)

1. stork

   Synonym: (rare) cocostârc

• barză-albă
• barză-neagră
• bărzoi
• ciocul-berzei
• pliscul-berzei

• barz

Ukrainian: ба́рза (bárza)

barză

1. feminine singular of barz

• ciconiidă
• ciconiiforme