Balaur

Balaur is a creature 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). In this it is quite similar to the Greek Hydra. 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).