Etymology

balas

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Today it means: A type of rose-coloured spinel once thought to be a form of ruby. Full definition →

Old English bales ← Old French balais ← Arabic بَلَخْش
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The story

  1. Persian · derived fromبلخش
  2. Arabic · derived fromبَلَخْش
  3. Old French · derived frombalais
  4. Old English · inherited frombales
  5. English todaybalas

From Old English bales, balais, from Old French balais, from Arabic بَلَخْش (balaḵš), from Persian بلخش (balaxš), a form of بدخش (badaxš, “balas”), related to بدخشان (badaxšân, “Badakhshan”), the region where they are found.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.