köken: From Middle High German lache, from Old High German lacha, lahha (“swamp, marsh”), from Proto-West Germanic *laku. The same word in a Low German form is Lake (“brine”), from Middle Low German lāke (“standing water; brine”), the latter of which seems also to have triggered the lengthened pronunciation of the -a- in Lache. Further cognates include Dutch laak (“lake, pond, stream”), Old English lacu…
köken: Inherited from Proto-Slavic *kaluža, related to *kalъ (“dirt”). Cognate with Polish kałuża and Serbo-Croatian kaljuža. First attested in the 19th century.
köken: It is generally agreed to be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-H- (“to burn bright, gleam; white, pale”), but there is disagreement whether the word is one of the earliest Romanian loans from Proto-Slavic *bolto (“swamp”), or whether it is a substrate word. Possibly borrowed from Albanian baltë (“mud”) or its immediate Proto-Albanian/Illyrian ancestor. Cognate with Aromanian baltã, Italian palta…