Olt

Where it comes from

Uncertain. The name has been used since ancient times, with ancient recorded variants including: Ancient Greek Aλoύτα (Aloúta) (Strabo), Ancient Greek Aλoύταζ (Aloútaz) (Ptolemaios), Latin Alutus (Tabula Peutingeriana). May have been an inherited word from local latin varieties under the influence of Dacian, where A > O sound shift is documented in city names such as Potaissa to Pataissa, Porolissum to Paralissum, etc. Direct inheritance from a Latin Aluta is unlikely to given it would have yielded *Arută. Alternatively, the word may have reached Romanian through a Slavic intermediary resulting in A > O (similar to the change from acetum to oțet).