Balaur

A dragon sculpture in Romania.

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 descriptionEdit

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

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.<ref>Murray, Eustace Clare Grenville. Doĭne: Or, the National Songs and Legends of Roumania. Smith, Elder. 1854. p. 137.</ref>

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").<ref name=sainean/> The balaur may also be the abductor of the princess Ileana Cosânzeana,<ref name=feraru/> although according to Șăineanu the kidnapper of this princess is a zmeu in the form of giant with pebbly tails<ref name=sainean/> (or scaly tails).<ref name=prut/> It is noted that the balaur and the zmeu are often confounded with each other.<ref name=sainean/><ref name=prut/>

According to folklorist Tudor Pamfile, there are three types of balauri in folk tradition: water-, land-, and air-dwelling.<ref name=pamfile/> 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.<ref name=pamfile/>

The second type of balaur, according to Pamfile, is said to dwell in the "Armenian land" (Template:Langx) where they produce precious stones.<ref name=pamfile/> In Wallachia, it is also believed that the saliva of a balaur can form precious stones, according to American writer Cora Linn Daniels.<ref morrrison&stevens>Template:Cite book</ref> Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade noted that the notion a precious stones are formed from a snake's spittle is widespread, from England to China.Template:Efn<ref name=eliade/>

The balaur is often associated with the weather and is alternatively called hala or ala,<ref name=pamfile/> which is usually a Slavic term for a weather demon. This is the type Pamfile calls the "third type" that is air-dwelling.<ref name=pamfile/> When two balauri meet and fight in the air, there ensues various meteorological damages such as uprooting of trees, or objects being tossed about.<ref name=pamfile/> Another tradition is that the balaur uses the rainbow as its path and sucks moisture from any spot in order to cause rain.<ref name=pamfile/> 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.<ref name=plotnikova/>Template:Efn

Although the dragons ridden by the Solomonari are often said to be zmei (sing. zmeu),<ref name=florescu/> they were balauri according to some sources. A balaur was controlled by these weather-controlling sorcerers using "a golden rein" (or golden bridle; Template:Langx).Template:Efn The dragons were usually kept hidden in the depths of a lake, until summoned by their riders.<ref name=marian-balauri/><ref name=marian-balauri-germ/><ref name=ljiljana/>

NameEdit

In Eastern RomanceEdit

The word is attested in Daco-Romanian and Aromanian.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In Romanian language the word appears with variations: balaoană,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> bălăuraş, bălăurel, balaurel, bălăuroaică, bălăuaua, and possibly in the shorter form bală.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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'.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Slavic comparandaEdit

According to Ranko Matasovic, the word appears along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In this regard, Croatian linguist Peter Skok located the following variations of the lexeme:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

blavor (Montenegro and Dalmatia);<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>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. {{#if:2247-7330|Template:Catalog lookup link{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}|Template:Error-small}}</ref> and is regarded as one of the few pre-Slavic Balkan relict words in Serbo-Croatian.<ref name=skok/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The word is, however, unattested in Bulgarian, per Skok and Matasovic.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Efn

EtymologyEdit

The term Balaur (Aromanian bul'ar) is of unknown etymology. It has been linked with Albanian boljë/bollë ("snake") and buljar ("water snake").<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=nandris/> The Transylvanian Saxon balaur "dragon", and balaura, an insult term in Serbia, are borrowed from Romanian.<ref name="cioranescu"/><ref name="skok"/>

The Albanian and Romanian terms possibly stem from the same Thracian root, *bell- or *ber- "beast, monster",<ref>"... 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].</ref> the traces of which can also be found in the name of the Greek mythological hero Bellerophon ("the beast killer").<ref name=corominas/><ref name="cioranescu"/> Skok traces its appearance in Slavic to a possible "Illyrio-Thracian" word *bolauras > blavor.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

LegacyEdit

SciencesEdit

The maniraptor theropod Balaur bondoc is named after this creature.

Popular cultureEdit

Video gamesEdit

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.<ref>"Balaur Dreadnought" at STOWiki.org Retrieved 2011-06-19.</ref>
In Ace Combat: Joint Assault, there is a gigantic railgun weapon named the Balaur.

Television seriesEdit

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

Explanatory notesEdit

Template:Notelist

ReferencesEdit

Citations

Template:Reflist

BibliographyEdit

Template:Refbegin

Template:Cite journal
Template:Cite journal
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.
Template:Cite journal

Template:Refend