Proto-Indo-European Roots
| Root/Stem: | *bal- |
| Meaning: | strength |
| Cognates: | |
| Hellenic | Greek beltión 'better' |
| Italic | Latin de-bilis 'weak' |
| Celtic | Common Celtic *bal- 'strong' > Old Irish odbal 'strong', Middle Irish balc 'strong', Irish dibeal 'old', Welsh balch 'proud', Breton balc'h |
| Indic | Sanskrit bala- 'strength', baliyán 'stronger' |
| Balkan | Phrygian balaios 'big, fast' |
| Germanic | Common Germanic *pala- 'strong, solid' > Middle Dutch & Low German & Frisian pal 'strong, firm' |
| Slavic | Common Slavic *boljï, *bolje 'more, bigger'
> Russian bolee 'more', bol'shoj 'big' |
| Notes: | A rather unique word, for the phoneme *b is found very rarely in pure Indo-European words. The glottalic theory suggested that it never existed at all. In any case, this root is maybe the most reliable proof of the existance of *b in Proto-Indo-European. Otherwise, it was an early borrowing from some outside language. |