Belt

See also: belt, bèlt, and bełt

English

Etymology

• As an English and north/Low German surname, from the noun belt.
• As a German surname, short form of the old Germanic name Baldher, composed of *balþ (“bold”) + *hari (“army”). Compare Belter.
• Also as a north/Low German surname, from the place name Beelte, a small town in Giesen.
• As a Dutch surname Van den Belt, from the noun belt (“low hill”).

Proper noun

Belt (countable and uncountable, plural Belts)

1. A surname.
2. A town in Cascade County, Montana, United States.
3. Ellipsis of Main Asteroid Belt: a region of Solar System.
   • 2016 January 15, Bryan Enk, “Belter Creole 101”, in SYFY‎^[1], archived from the original on 15 April 2022:

     Believe it or not, Belter slang — or, more officially, Belter Creole — isn't a completely made-up way of communicating. It's actually a mix of several Earth languages spoken by the original settlers in the Asteroid Belt colonies — very appropriate, as the Belt is a melting pot of several different races, customs and backgrounds.

Derived terms

• Belter
• Beltsville

Anagrams

• blet

Dutch

Etymology

Attested as De Belt in 1839-1859. Derived from dialectal belt (“small hill, slightly elevated place”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: Belt

Proper noun

Belt n

1. a hamlet in Hollands Kroon, North Holland, Netherlands

References

• van Berkel, Gerard; Samplonius, Kees (2018), “Belt”, in Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard‎^[2] (in Dutch), Mijnbestseller.nl, →ISBN

German

Etymology

From Danish bælt, from Latin Baltia, a mythological island described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, of unclear origin. It bears no relation to Danish bælte (“belt”), which is derived from Latin balteus (“belt, girdle”) and for which the German word is Gürtel. Possibly instead related to Lithuanian baltas (“white”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛlt/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlt

Noun

Belt m (strong, genitive Beltes or Belts, plural Belte)

1. (Denmark) strait

Declension

Declension of Belt [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Belt	die	Belte
genitive	eines	des	Beltes, Belts	der	Belte
dative	einem	dem	Belt, Belte1	den	Belten
accusative	einen	den	Belt	die	Belte

¹Now rare, see notes.

Hypernyms

• Meerenge

Hyponyms

• Großer Belt, großer Belt
• Kleiner Belt, kleiner Belt

Descendants

• → Polish: bełt

Further reading

• “Belt” in Duden online
• Mishkova, Diana; Trencsényi, Balázs (2017), European Regions and Boundaries: A Conceptual History‎^[3], Berghahn Books, →ISBN, retrieved 1 December 2023, page 57
• Hałub, Marek; Schuster, Kurt G. P. (2005), Hoffmann von Fallersleben: Internationales Symposion Wrocław/Breslau 2003‎^[4] (in German), Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, →ISBN, retrieved 1 December 2023, page 253