Balaur#Etymology

Image:Balaur Brasov 1.jpg

A balaur (pl. balauri) in Romanian folklore is a type of many-headed dragon or monstrous serpent, sometimes said to be equipped with wings. The number of heads is usually around three, but they can also have seven heads or even twelve heads according to some legends.

The balaur in folktale is typically evil, demanding or abducting young maidens or the princess, and defeated by the hero such as Saint George or the fair youth Făt-Frumos.

There is some lore in which the balaur is considered weather-making, and living in an airborne state, but these types of balaur are sometimes interchangeably called hala or ala, being confounded with the pan-Slavic air and water demon. The balaur (instead of the zmeu) is the vehicle of the weather-controlling Solomonari according to some sources.

There are also legends about the balaur in which they can produce precious stones from their saliva. Also, it is said that whoever manages to slay it will be forgiven a sin.

General description

In the Romanian language, balauri are "monstrous serpents" or dragons. Alternatively, the word balaur can be used to describe any monster like creature. They are many-headed like the Greek hell-hound Cerberus or the hydra and are winged and golden, according to Lazăr Șăineanu.

As reported by journalist Eustace Clare Grenville Murray, in Romanian folklore the balaur or balaurul is a serpentine being who guards treasures and princesses, coming to blows against heroic Fêt-Frumos.Murray, Eustace Clare Grenville. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yrsQAAAAIAAJ Doĭne: Or, the National Songs and Legends of Roumania]. Smith, Elder. 1854. p. 137.

The balaur recurs in Romanian folktales as a ravenous dragon that preys upon maidens only to be defeated by the hero Făt-Frumos ("Handsome Lad"). The balaur may also be the abductor of the princess Ileana Cosânzeana, although according to Șăineanu the kidnapper of this princess is a zmeu in the form of giant with pebbly tails (or scaly tails). It is noted that the balaur and the zmeu are often confounded with each other.

According to folklorist Tudor Pamfile, there are three types of balauri in folk tradition: water-, land-, and air-dwelling. A type of balaur of the first type is a seven-headed monster that dwells in the well of a village, demanding maidens as sacrifice until defeated by either the hero named Busuioc or by Saint George.

The second type of balaur, according to Pamfile, is said to dwell in the "Armenian land" ({{langx|ro|{{linktext|ţara |armenească}}}}) where they produce precious stones. In Wallachia, it is also believed that the saliva of a balaur can form precious stones, according to American writer Cora Linn Daniels.{{cite book|last1=Daniels |first1=Cora Linn Morrison |author-link=Cora Linn Daniels |last2=Stevens |first2=Charles McClellan |author-link2= |title=Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World: A Comprehensive Library of Human Belief and Practice in the Mysteries of Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ns0gK0efOvYC&pg=PA1419 |year=1903 |publisher=J. H. Yewdale & sons Company |pages=1419–1420}} Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade noted that the notion a precious stones are formed from a snake's spittle is widespread, from England to China.{{Efn|Eliade refers to his paper on the snake stone (adder stone) "Piatra Sarpelui", Mesterului Manole, Bucharest, 1939, pp. 1–12.}}

The balaur is often associated with the weather and is alternatively called hala or ala, which is usually a Slavic term for a weather demon. This is the type Pamfile calls the "third type" that is air-dwelling. When two balauri meet and fight in the air, there ensues various meteorological damages such as uprooting of trees, or objects being tossed about. Another tradition is that the balaur uses the rainbow as its path and sucks moisture from any spot in order to cause rain. There is also lore about the balaur which is said to be quite similar to the Bulgarian Banat lore about the lamia (locally called lam'a), which states that the lam'a draw water from the sea to fill the cloud.{{Efn|The scholar, Anna Plotnikova, concludes that this lamia lore has been "contaminated" with aspects of the lore about the water and air demon (i.e., the hala).}}

Although the dragons ridden by the Solomonari are often said to be zmei (sing. zmeu), they were balauri according to some sources. A balaur was controlled by these weather-controlling sorcerers using "a golden rein" (or golden bridle; {{langx|ro|{{linktext|un |frâu |de |aur}}}}).{{Efn|{{langx|de|ein goldene Zaum}}.}} The dragons were usually kept hidden in the depths of a lake, until summoned by their riders.

== Name ==

= In Eastern Romance =

The word is attested in Daco-Romanian and Aromanian.{{cite journal |last=Mihailascarlatoiu [Mihaila-Scarlatoiu] |first=Elena |date=1972 |title=Emprunts Roumains dans le Lexique Serbo-Croate |journal=Revue des Études Sud-Est Européennes |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=95–113 [101] |lang=FR}} In Romanian language the word appears with variations: balaoană,{{cite journal |last=Mihailascarlatoiu [Mihaila-Scarlatoiu] |first=Elena |date=1972 |title=Emprunts Roumains dans le Lexique Serbo-Croate |journal=Revue des Études Sud-Est Européennes |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=95–113 [101] |lang=FR}} bălăuraş, bălăurel, balaurel, bălăuroaică, bălăuaua, and possibly in the shorter form bală.{{cite journal |last=Radu |first=Voica |title=Consideraţii etimologice privitoare la cuvântul balaur |trans-title=Some etymological considerations regarding the word "Dragon" |journal=Philologica Banatica |volume=II |date=2010 |pages=20–25 [20] |lang=RO}} Similar words are attested in Megleno-Romanian, e.g., bular 'a type of large snake' and bălăura 'large (about plums)', and in Aromanian bularu 'red snake'.{{cite journal |last=Radu |first=Voica |title=Consideraţii etimologice privitoare la cuvântul balaur |trans-title=Some etymological considerations regarding the word "Dragon" |journal=Philologica Banatica |volume=II |date=2010 |pages=20–25 [21] |lang=RO}}

= Slavic comparanda =

According to Ranko Matasovic, the word appears along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea.{{cite journal |last=Matasović |first=Ranko |title=Skokove 'ilirske' etimologije |trans-title=Skok's "Illyrian" etymologies |pages=89–101 [94] |journal=Folia onomastica Croatica |date=1995 |issue=4 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/158643| lang=Croatian}} In this regard, Croatian linguist Peter Skok located the following variations of the lexeme:{{cite journal |last=Skok |first=Peter |author-link=Petar Skok |title=Zum Balkanlatein III |journal=Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie |volume=50 |issue=4 |date=1930 |pages=484–532 [512–513] |lang=DE |doi=10.1515/zrph.1930.50.4.484}}{{Cite book| last=Skok| first=Petar| author-link=Petar Skok| year=1988| orig-year=1971| title=Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika| volume=1| publisher=Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti| place=Zagreb| language=Croatian| isbn=86-407-0064-8| page=169 }}

blavor (Montenegro and Dalmatia);{{cite journal |last=Bidwell |first=Charles E. |title=Some remarks on the reflexes of Vulgar Latin au in South Slavic |journal=Romance Notes |volume=4 |issue=2 |date=1963 |pages=178–82 [180–181] |jstor=43800157 |quote=... Blavor is attested in Montenegro and neighbouring areas ...}} blavorak (diminutive, attested in a 16th century writer from Ragusa); blavūr (Ragusa); blavòruša (aumentative; Montenegro)
bläor (Imotski, Podlug in Cattaro, Benkovac, Jagodnja, Sibenik - all in Dalmatia); blőr; blőruša (Montenegro)
blaur (Dalmatia), blavorina (aumentative, Koprivno in Sinj, Dalm.), blaorina (Ervenik, Dalm.)
blahor (Nevesinje in Herzegovina)
blabor (Tribanj, Dalm.), blaborina (aumentative)

The Serbo-Croatian blavor/blaor/blavur ("European legless lizard") is cognate with balaur,{{cite journal |last=Orel |first=Vladimir |author-link=Vladimir Orel |title=К этимологии серб. блӑвор, рум. balaur, алб. bullar |journal=ВМГУ |date=1981 |issue=2 |pages=72–6 [72] |lang=RU |quote=В списки балканизмов это слово обычно включается как славянское соответствие алб. bullar ... , рум. balaur ... |trans-quote=In the list of Balkanisms, the word [blavor] is usually included as the Slavic correspondence to Albanian bullar ... , Romanian balaur ...}}{{cite journal|last=Šašel Kos|first=Marjeta|author-link=Marjeta Šašel Kos|title=Cadmus and Harmonia in Illyria|journal=Arheološki Vestnik|volume=44|year=1993|pages=113–136 [125]|url=https://www.academia.edu/489633}}Draucean, Adela Ileana (2008). "The Names of Romanian Fairy-Tale Characters in the Works of the Junimist Classics". In: Studii și cercetări de onomastică și lexicologie, II (1-2), p. 28. {{ISSN|2247-7330}} and is regarded as one of the few pre-Slavic Balkan relict words in Serbo-Croatian.{{cite journal|last=Šašel Kos|first=Marjeta|author-link=Marjeta Šašel Kos|title=Cadmus and Harmonia in Illyria|journal=Arheološki Vestnik|volume=44|year=1993|pages=113–136 [125]|url=https://www.academia.edu/489633 |quote=The word blavor ... is a pre-Slavic Balkanism.}} The word is, however, unattested in Bulgarian, per Skok and Matasovic.{{cite journal |last=Matasović |first=Ranko |title=Skokove 'ilirske' etimologije |trans-title=Skok's "Illyrian" etymologies |pages=89–101 [94] |journal=Folia onomastica Croatica |date=1995 |issue=4 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/158643| lang=Croatian}}{{cite journal |last=Skok |first=Peter |author-link=Petar Skok |title=Zum Balkanlatein III |journal=Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie |volume=50 |issue=4 |date=1930 |pages=484–532 [514] |lang=DE |doi=10.1515/zrph.1930.50.4.484}}{{efn|However, Romanian Elena Mihaila-Scarlatoiu indicated that the Romanian word passed into the languages of the nearby regions, like Bulgarian, Albanian and Serbian.{{cite journal |last=Mihailascarlatoiu [Mihaila-Scarlatoiu] |first=Elena |date=1972 |title=Emprunts Roumains dans le Lexique Serbo-Croate |journal=Revue des Études Sud-Est Européennes |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=95-113 [101, 112 (abbreviations)] |lang=FR |quote=Terme rencontré en dr., ar. d'oü il a passé dans le ngr., l'alb., le bg., le ser. |trans-quote=Word found in Daco-Romanian and Aromanian, from where it passed into Neo-Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian and Serbian.}}}}

= Etymology =

The term Balaur (Aromanian bul'ar) is of unknown etymology. It has been linked with Albanian boljë/bollë ("snake") and buljar ("water snake").{{Cite book |last=Rosetti |first=Alexandru |author-link=Alexandru Rosetti |chapter=La situation du romain parmi les langues balkaniques|title=Linguistica |pages=216–225 [222] |location=Berlin, Boston |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |date=1965 |doi=10.1515/9783111349039-037 |isbn=978-3-11-134903-9 |quote=Voici l'énumération du fonds de vocabulaire que le roumain et l'albanais possèdent en commun: ... balaur s. m. "dragon, hydre; monstre": alb. bollë "grosse Schlange", g. bullar "Wasserschlange"... |trans-quote=The following is a list of shared words between Romanian and Albanian: ... balaur s. m. "dragon, hydra; monster": alb. bollë "large snake", g. bullar "water-snake"... |lang=FR}} The Transylvanian Saxon balaur "dragon", and balaura, an insult term in Serbia, are borrowed from Romanian.

The Albanian and Romanian terms possibly stem from the same Thracian root, *bell- or *ber- "beast, monster","... elementelor grevate de incertitudinea si confuzia divergentelor de opinii: (I) [first hypothesis] face parte din fondul prelatin, autohton a) din substratul comun român-albanez ... descinde, probabil, dintr-un radical tracic *bell- sau *ber - 'fiara'...". Rusnac, George. "Balaur (etimologii)". In: Analele ştiinţifice ale Universităţii «Alexandru Ioan Cuza» din Iaşi (Serie nouă, Secţiunea III, e. Lingvistică) vol. XXXVII-XXXVIII, 1991-1992, Omul şi limbajul său. Studia linguistica in honorem Eugenio Coseriu. Iasi: Editura Universitatii Al. I Cuza, 1992. pp. 351-360 [351]. the traces of which can also be found in the name of the Greek mythological hero Bellerophon ("the beast killer"). Skok traces its appearance in Slavic to a possible "Illyrio-Thracian" word *bolauras > blavor.{{Cite book| last=Skok| first=Petar| author-link=Petar Skok| year=1988| orig-year=1971| title=Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika| volume=3| publisher=Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti| place=Zagreb| language=Croatian| isbn=86-407-0064-8| page=538 }} However, Matasovic discards a Thracian source and considers the word to be ultimately of Illyrian origin, with the form *bulauras, leading to an ancient Slavic borrowing with the form *bъla(v)ur.{{cite journal |last=Matasović |first=Ranko |title=Skokove 'ilirske' etimologije |trans-title=Skok's "Illyrian" etymologies |pages=89–101 [94] |journal=Folia onomastica Croatica |date=1995 |issue=4 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/158643| lang=Croatian}}

Legacy

= Sciences =

The maniraptor theropod Balaur bondoc is named after this creature.

= Popular culture =

== Video games ==

In the MMORPG Aion, the Dragons that once ruled the world and are the enemy are called the Balaur.
In the MMORPG Star Trek Online the largest class of Gorn warship is the Balaur Dreadnought.[http://www.stowiki.org/Balaur_Dreadnought "Balaur Dreadnought" at STOWiki.org] Retrieved 2011-06-19.
In Ace Combat: Joint Assault, there is a gigantic railgun weapon named the Balaur.

== Television series ==

In the 2020 TV series Dracula, the Count uses the alias "Mr. Balaur".

Explanatory notes

References

;Citations

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{citation|last=Ciorănescu |first=Alexandru |author-link=:ro:Alexandru Ciorănescu |title=balaur |work=Dicționarul etimologic român |publisher=Universidad de la Laguna, Tenerife |year=1958–1966|url=https://www.webdex.ro/online/dictionarul_etimologic_roman/balaur

}}

The dictionary of Juan de Corominas, cited in: {{citation|last=Gáldi |first=L. |author-link=:ro:László Gáldi |title=(Review) Diccionario Etimológico Rumano, Biblioteca Filológica. Colección publicada por la Universidad de La Laguna by Alejandro Cioranescu |journal=Acta Linguistica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=11 |number=1/2 |year=1961 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_BWAAAAIAAJ&q=Bellerophon |pages=197–198}} {{JSTOR|44309193}}

{{cite book|last=Eliade |first=Mircea |author-link=Mircea Eliade |translator=Rosemary Sheed |chapter=167. The Degradation of Symbols |title=Patterns in Comparative Religion |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |orig-year=1958 |year=1996 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxliotWdzXIC&pg=PA207 |page=207|isbn=0803267339 }}; (originally in Romanian) "[https://archive.org/details/MirceaEliadeTratatDeIstorieAReligiilor/page/n379 Tratat De Istorie A Religiilor]"

{{cite book|last=Feraru |first=Leon |author-link=Leon Feraru |title=The Development of Rumanian Poetry

|publisher=Columbia University |year=1929 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MDBIAAAAMAAJ |page=14}}

{{cite book|last1=Florescu |first1=Radu |author-link=Radu Florescu |last2=McNally |first2=Raymond T. |title=Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times |publisher=Little, Brown |year=2009|isbn=9780316092265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zot08bJa3FAC&pg=PT217

|quote=Ismeju [the correct Romanian spelling is Zmeu, another word for dragon]}} {{isbn|9-780-3160-9226-5}}

{{citation|last=Ljiljana |first=Marks |title=Legends about the Grabancijaš Dijak in the 19th Century and in Contemporary Writings |journal=Acta Ethnographica Hungarica |volume=54 |number=2 |year=1990 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SkwqAQAAIAAJ&q=%22solomonar%22 |page=327}}

Marian, S. F. (1879): "Cînd voiesc Solomonarii să se suie în nori, iau friul cel de aur şi se duc la un lac fără de fund sau la o altă apă mare, unde ştiu ei că locuiesc balaurii", quoted in: Hasdeu, Bogdan Petriceicu; Brâncuș, Grigore (1976) edd., {{plain link|name=Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAN_9QPRU1gC&q=balaurii}} 3, p. 438.

Marian, S. F. (1879), pp. 54–56, German (tr.), Gaster, Moses (1884), "[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015069551789;view=1up;seq=9 Scholomonar, d. i. er Grabancijaš dijak nach der Voksüberlieferung er Rumänen ]", Archiv für slavische Philologie VII, p. 285: "Mit diesem Zaum zäumen die Solomonari die ihnen anstatt Pferde dienenden Drachen (Balauri)" or, "With these [golden] reins, the Solomonari rein their dragons (balauri) that they use instead of horses".

{{citation|last=Nandris |first=Grigore |author-link=Grigore Nandriș |title=The Historical Dracula: The Theme of His Legend in the Western and in the Eastern Literatures of Europe |journal=Comparative Literature Studies |volume=3 |number=4 |year=1966 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SkwqAQAAIAAJ&q=%22solomonar%22 |page=377}}; Reprinted in: {{cite book|editor-last=Aldridge |editor-first=Alfred Owen |editor-link=Alfred Owen Aldridge |title=Comparative literature: matter and method |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1969 |url=https://archive.org/details/comparativeliter00aldr |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/comparativeliter00aldr/page/124 124]|isbn=9780252000164 }}

{{cite book|last=Pamfile |first=Tudor |author-link=Tudor Pamfile |chapter=bălaurii |title=Văzduhul după credințile poporului român |place=București |publisher=Socec & comp. |year=1916 |series=Academia română. Din vieața poporului român, culegeri și studii, XXV |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QHMkAQAAIAAJ&q=%22b%C4%83laurii |pages=313–316 }} [https://archive.org/details/MitologieRomneascVolumul1Dusmanii1916/page/n317 Alt URL]

{{citation|last=Plotnikova |first=Anna |title=Ethnolinguistic phenomena in Boundary Balkan Slavic areas |journal=Славянская диалектная лексика и лингвогеография |volume=7 |year=2001 |url=http://inslav.ru/images/stories/pdf/ISD-07-2001.pdf |page=306}}

{{citation|last=Prut|first=Constantin |author-link=:ro:Constantin Prut |translator=Sergiu Marcus |title=The World of Fabulous Creatures |journal=Romanian Review |volume=37 |number=2–3 |year=1983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-csAAAAIAAJ&q=zmeu+giant |page=170}}

{{citation|last=Sainéan |first=Lazare |author-link=Lazăr Șăineanu |title=Terminologie folklorique en roumain |journal=La Tradition |volume=11 |year=1901 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OeM5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA227 |page=227}}

{{Citation| last=Skok| first=Petar| author-link=Petar Skok| year=1988| orig-year=1971| title=Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika| volume=1| publisher=Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti| place=Zagreb| language=sh| isbn=86-407-0064-8| page=170| mode=cs1}}

}}

= Bibliography =

{{cite journal |last=Mihailascarlatoiu [Mihaila-Scarlatoiu] |first=Elena |date=1972 |title=Emprunts Roumains dans le Lexique Serbo-Croate |journal=Revue des Études Sud-Est Européennes |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=95–113 [101–102] |lang=FR}}
{{cite journal |last=Orel |first=Vladimir |author-link=Vladimir Orel |title=К этимологии серб. блӑвор, рум. balaur, алб. bullar |journal=ВМГУ |date=1981 |issue=2 |pages=72–6 |lang=RU}}
Rusnac, George. "Balaur (etimologii)". In: Analele ştiinţifice ale Universităţii «Alexandru Ioan Cuza» din Iaşi (Serie nouă, Secţiunea III, e. Lingvistică) vol. XXXVII-XXXVIII, 1991-1992, Omul şi limbajul său. Studia linguistica in honorem Eugenio Coseriu. Iasi: Editura Universitatii Al. I Cuza, 1992. pp. 351-360.
{{cite journal |last=Radu |first=Voica |title=Consideraţii etimologice privitoare la cuvântul balaur |trans-title=Some etymological considerations regarding the word "Dragon" |journal=Philologica Banatica |volume=II |date=2010 |pages=20–25 |lang=RO}}