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Balaur is a creature in Romanian folklore, similar to a dragon. A balaur is quite large, has fins, feet, and is polycephalous (it usually has three, sometimes seven, or even twelve serpent heads). As a traditional character which is found in most Romanian fairy tales, it represents Evil and must be defeated by Făt-Frumos in order to release the Princess (see also Zmeu).
Balaur seems to derive from Proto-Indo-European language words *bel-, "strong", or *bhel-, "to swell". It is considered to be a pre-Roman conquest word from the Romanian substratum (see also List of Romanian words of possible Dacian origin).
Popular Culture
- In the MMORPG Aion, the Dragons that once ruled the world and are the enemy are called the Balaur.
- In the MMORPG Star Trek Online the largest class of Gorn warship is the Balaur Dreadnaught.
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