Balto-
(ˈbɔːltəʊ)
comb. form of Baltic, as in Balto-Lithuanian; ˌBalto-ˈSlavic, -Slaˈvonic a. and n., the designation of the group of Indo-European languages which comprises the Baltic branch and the Slavonic branch (Russian, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Bulgarian, etc.).
| 1896 O. F. Emerson Brief Hist. Eng. Lang. i. 8 The Balto-Slavic branch consists of two divisions. 1909 Webster, Balto-Slavonic, adj. 1910 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 495/1 North of the Black Sea..comes the great Balto-Slavonic group. Ibid. XVI. 246/1 The words mentīrī, rōs, ignis have close equivalents in Balto-Slavonic. 1922 E. J. Harrison Lithuania ii. 32 In 1654 the Old Prussians..renounced their Balto-Lithuanian idiom in favour of German. 1948 D. Diringer Alphabet ii. v. 347 The new language may hold an intermediate position between..Balto-Slavonic and Greek. |