köken: From Middle High German balke, from Old High German balko, balcho, from Proto-West Germanic *balkō, from Proto-Germanic *balkô. Compare English balk.
köken: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *balkô Proto-West Germanic *balkō Old High German balko Middle High German balkebor. Old Polish balka Polish belka Inherited from Old Polish balka, with an unexpected shift of a > e first occurring in the 16th century. Compare Kashubian balka and Slovincian balka. Doublet of balkon.
köken: From Proto-Italic *trabs, from Proto-Indo-European *treb- (“wooden beam”). Cognate with Lithuanian troba, Dutch dorp, German Dorf, English thorp and English troop. Doublet of troppus.
köken: From Old Galician-Portuguese trave (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin trabem, accusative of trabs (“beam”). Cognate with Portuguese trave. Doublet of treu.
köken: From Proto-Albanian *stalkā, from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“stalk, stem”). Cognate to Ancient Greek στέλος (stélos, “beam”), Sanskrit स्थल (sthála, “elevation”), Middle Low German stale (“post”). Also compare Old English stalu (“wooden upright”) (English stalk), Danish stilk.