балия

Bulgarian

Etymology

An old ī-stem agent noun from Old Church Slavonic балии (balii), reanalyzed with the suffix -ия (-ija). Probably related to Bulgarian ба́я (bája, “to cast charms”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈbalijɐ]
Audio (file)

Noun

ба́лия • (bálija) m (feminine ба́лийца)

(archaic) healer, enchanter
Synonyms: врач (vrač), чародее́ц (čarodeéc), знаха́р (znahár)

Usage notes

The term (along with its synonyms) nowadays is used specifically for old-time healers, which use charms and folk medicine. The technical term for (professional) healer is лека́р (lekár) (native) or до́ктор (dóktor), меди́к (medík) (borrowings).

Declension

Declension of ба́лия

	singular	plural
indefinite	ба́лия bálija	ба́лии bálii
definite	ба́лията bálijata	ба́лиите báliite

Derived terms

ба́лийство (bálijstvo), балу́ване (balúvane, “enchantry”) (archaic)
ба́лност (bálnost, “healing charm”) (archaic)

Related terms

ба́йка (bájka, “enchanter”) (dialectal)
ба́сня (básnja, “fable”)
ба́ба (bába, “grandmother, old wise woman”)

References

балии in Исторически речник на българския език, Sofia University "St. Clement Ohridsky"

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