''Alka'' or ''alkas'' ( lv, elks) is the name of a

sacred place Sacred space, sacred ground, sacred place, sacred temple, holy ground, or holy place refers to a location which is deemed to be sacred or hallowed. The sacredness of a natural feature may accrue through tradition or be granted through a bless ...

or a place for burning sacrifices in Baltic religion. In Latvia and Lithuania ''alka(-s) '' and ''elks'' is the most widespread component in the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

s for sacred sites. 120

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...

s, 70

fields Fields may refer to: Music * Fields (band), an indie rock band formed in 2006 * Fields (progressive rock band), a progressive rock band formed in 1971 * ''Fields'' (album), an LP by Swedish-based indie rock band Junip (2010) * "Fields", a song b ...

and 50

water bodies A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as p ...

(

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

s, and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s) with such word in their name have been registered.

Etymology

The words ''alka(-s) '' and ''elks'' probably derive from the

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...

''*alku/*elku'' ("bend, an elbow, turn-like and lift") and may be directly connected with words such as Lithuanian ''auk(u)oti'' ("to lift a child") and Latvian ''auklēt'' ("to carry the baby on arms and to rock"). Cognates in other languages may include Germanic and

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

''alhs'' ("temple"), Saxon ''alah'' ("temple"), the Anglo-Saxon ''ealh'' ("temple") and ''ealgian'' ("to guard, to defend"), Belorussian ''галыконшк'' ("offering gatherer"), and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

αλδοζ and αλδιζ ("a sacred enclosure in Olympia").

Cultic practice

On these "sacred sites of the Balts", "sacred offerings" were made. These sites included bogs ('alka (os)/aukos'), rivers ('alkupiai') and islets ('alkos salos').Bliujienė, Audronė. "The Bog Offerings of the Balts: ‘I Give in Order to Get Back’". In: ''Archaeologia Baltica'', Vol. 14: Underwater Archaeology in the Baltic Region. Dedicated to the 65th Birthday of Prof Habil. Dr Vladas Žulkus. Klaipėda: Klaipėda University Press, 2010. p. 141. .

References

Baltic religion Sacred natural sites {{mythology-stub