An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Balken

by Friedrich Kluge

Balken. masculine, ‘beam, baulk, loft,’ from the equivalent Middle High German balke, Old High German balcho, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon balca, English baulk, Dutch balk, ‘baulk'; in Scandinavian beside the corresponding bálkr, ‘fence, boundary-line,’ there occurs with a different gradation bijálk-, ‘baulk' (Gothic *bilka), in Anglo-Saxon likewise bolca, ‘gangway’ (Gothic *bulka). From Teutonic balkon, French balcon and Italian balco are derived. The Aryan form of the root is bhalg, hence Greek (φάλαγξ, φάλαγγ-ος, ‘oval piece of wood, trunk of a tree,’ has been compared with it, but the nasal of the second syllable renders the comparison dubious.