BALKAN(s)  

- Ottoman & modern Turkish = chain of wooded mountains, referring to the mountainous peninsula between the Adriatic🔍 and Black Seas🔍.     

  [May relate to Turkish bālk = mud (from Proto-Turkic bal = mud, clay; thick or gluey substance / eg. bal = honey) + suffix -an = swampy forest]*

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     * Alternatively could be related to Persian bālā-khāna = big high house