[gothic-l] (unknown)

[Francisc Czobor]

Hails, Greg

in the Romanian language, "balan" means "white" or "light-colored",
with reference to horses (and sometimes it means also "blonde", with
reference to humans). The word seems to be of Slavic origin (Old
Slavonic belu "white"). It is interesting that the word mentioned by
Procopius is identical with the modern Romanian form.

Francisc

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, greg scaff <g_scaff at y...> wrote:
>
> Hails,
>
>      I am curious as to the origin of the word "balan", mentioned
in Procopius'  History of the Wars, V, XVlll, in my vol, p
173, ",,,and his whole body was dark grey, except that his face from
the top of his head to the nostrils was the purest white.  Such a
horse the Greeks call "phalius" and the barbarians "balan." Within
the context of this passage it seems that Procopius was referring to
Ostrogoths as the barbarians in question, but not definatively.  I'm
aware that "balan" is unattested as a Gothic word.  Can it be
identified as having  a known Iranic/Turkic/Arabic or other origin?
Are there any Germanic  cognates? Has anyone studied this word
before?  I would appreciate your ideas and comments, thank you.
>
> Greg
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups SponsorADVERTISEMENT
>
>
> You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a
blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
Service.
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your
desktop!
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Make Money Online Auctions! Make $500.00 or We Will Give You Thirty Dollars for Trying!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/yMx78A/fNtFAA/46VHAA/wWMplB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/