Where does “baltums” come from?
baltums (Latvian) comes from Latvian balts, from Proto-Balto-Slavic balt, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *bal-, from Proto-Indo-European bʰel-, from Proto-Indo-European bʰōl-.
baltums (Latvian): white, whiteness; white
Ancestry of “baltums”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Latvian | balts | white; clean; counterrevolutionary, member of the... |
| 2 | Proto-Balto-Slavic | balt | to become white |
| 3 | Proto-Balto-Slavic | *bal- | — |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰel- | to sound; to speak, roar, bark; shiny, white; to... |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰōl- | — |