Editing Balaur (section)

== Name == 
=== In Eastern Romance ===

The word is attested in [[Daco-Romanian]] and [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]].<ref>{{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}}</ref> In [[Romanian language]] the word appears with variations: ''balaoană'',<ref>{{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}}</ref> ''bălăuraş'', ''bălăurel'', ''balaurel'', ''bălăuroaică'', ''bălăuaua'', and possibly in the shorter form ''bală''.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Similar words are attested in [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]], e.g.,  ''bular'' 'a type of large snake' and ''bălăura'' 'large (about plums)', and in Aromanian ''bularu'' 'red snake'.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

=== Slavic comparanda ===
According to [[Ranko Matasovic]], the word appears along the eastern coast of the [[Adriatic Sea]].<ref>{{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}}</ref> In this regard, Croatian linguist Peter Skok located the following variations of the lexeme:<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref>

* ''blavor'' (Montenegro and Dalmatia);<ref>{{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 ...}}</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'' ("[[Scheltopusik|European legless lizard]]") is cognate with ''balaur'',<ref>{{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'' ...}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</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. {{ISSN|2247-7330}}</ref> and is regarded as one of the few [[Paleo-Balkan languages|pre-Slavic Balkan]] relict words in Serbo-Croatian.<ref name=skok/><ref>{{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.}}</ref> The word is, however, unattested in [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], per Skok and Matasovic.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>{{efn|However, Romanian Elena Mihaila-Scarlatoiu indicated that the Romanian word ''passed into'' the languages of the nearby regions, like Bulgarian, Albanian and Serbian.<ref>{{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.}}</ref>}}

=== Etymology ===
The term ''Balaur'' ([[Aromanian language|Aromanian]] ''bul'ar'') is of unknown etymology. It has been linked with [[Albanian language|Albanian]] ''boljë''/''bollë'' ("snake") and ''buljar'' ("water snake").<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name=nandris/> The [[Transylvanian Saxon dialect|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 language|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 "[[Thraco-Illyrian|Illyrio-Thracian]]" word ''*bolauras'' > ''blavor''.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> However, Matasovic discards a Thracian source and considers the word to be ultimately of [[Illyrian languages|Illyrian]] origin, with the form ''*bulauras'', leading to an ancient [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] borrowing with the form ''*bъla(v)ur''.<ref>{{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}}</ref>