nounmasculinea-stempool(SS: see article polaz-Acta_Linguistica_Lithuanica.pdf in pgmc folder re bola-) From presumed pre-Germanic *bōlos, from virtual Proto-Indo-European *bel-, *bal- (‘bog, marsh’), which may be a European substrate term borrowed into multiple Indo-European branches. Potential cognates include Proto-Slavic *bolto (‘swamp’), Modern Greek βάλτος (váltos, ‘swamp, bog’), Romanian baltă (‘swamp, puddle’), Albanian baltë (‘mud, swamp’), as well as Proto-Slavic *bala, *balъka (‘pool; ravine’), Lithuanian balà (‘bog; marsh; swamp; pool’), Latvian bala (‘a muddy, treeless depression’).