#baba

• Adam-Babadam — A regional, archaic, or legendary toponymic formula used in certain micro-regions of southeastern Romania to designate a remote, isolated place or an ancient settlement with obscure origins; also used in popular fairy tales as a compound proper name attributed to a mythological character or a giant from the beginning of time. This structural term retains nuances of traditional onomastics influenced by Turkish and Balkan lexicons.
• Addis Ababa — The official capital and largest city of Ethiopia, situated on a high plateau in East Africa at an altitude of over 2300 meters. It represents a major political, economic, and cultural center of the continent, hosting the headquarters of the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa; its name translates from Amharic as 'New Flower'.
• Ali — An extremely famous proper masculine name of Arabic origin, historically borne by Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (c. 600–661), cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, the fourth Rightly Guided Caliph in Sunni Islam and the foundational figure (first Imam) in Shia Islam. Culturally, it stands for justice and courage.
• Old woman — A word with multiple semantic meanings; in its most common usage, it designates an elderly woman or grandmother, often loaded with mystical-archaic folkloric connotations (such as the March Babes in Romanian mythology). In a technical or industrial sense, it represents a heavy metal or wooden bitt mounted on a ship's deck or dock for securing mooring lines, or a support structural piece in drilling rigs. It can also refer to a traditional pastry baked in special molds.
• Baba Ana — A locality and commune located in Prahova County, Muntenia, Romania, consisting of the villages Baba Ana (the administrative center), Conduratu, and Cireșanu. Situated in the plains of the southeastern part of the county, the locality is economically recognized for its fertile agricultural lands and, particularly, for its viticultural development, being historically and structurally connected to the famous Dealu Mare wine region.
• Baba Novac — A national hero and legendary outlaw of Serbian or Timok origin (c. 1520–1601), who became an army general and one of the most loyal military commanders of Michael the Brave. Renowned for his exceptional bravery in battles against the Ottoman Empire, he led detachments of hajduks and cavalry in the liberation campaigns of Wallachia and Transylvania, meeting a tragic end when he was executed by being burned at the stake by Hungarian nobles in Cluj, an event that transformed him into a central figure of Romanian folk ballads.
• Baba-Cloanta — A negative mythological character from Romanian folklore and fairy tales, depicted as an extremely ugly, hunchbacked, often malicious old woman or witch, who possesses harmful magical powers and tries to prevent positive heroes from completing their missions. Her name structurally evokes decrepitude and ferocity (suggesting a hooked profile or claw-like features), popularized in high literature through famous poems (such as those by Vasile Alecsandri), where she personifies the obscure forces of nature or destiny.
• Baba-Coaja — A minor supernatural character from Romanian popular demonology, found in regional superstitions and folkloric bogeyman tales, often used to discipline disobedient children. Depicted as a hideous, solitary, and harsh old woman (the name structurally implying dry, wrinkled skin or a rigid crust), this mythological figure acts as a punitive night spirit, similar to other entities like Baba-Cloandă or the forest mother, embodying ancestral fears of darkness and the unknown.
• Baba-Dochia — A central figure of Romanian mythology, symbolically personifying the dying old year, harsh winter, and the rebirth of spring. The legend depicts her as an authoritarian stepmother who subjects her daughter-in-law to impossible tasks (such as washing black wool until it turns white); deceived by an early spell of warm weather, she climbs the mountain with her sheep, shedding her 9 or 12 sheepskin coats one by one, ultimately freezing to death and turning into stone alongside her flock, inspiring the myth of the 'Old Women Days' in early March.
• Baba-gaia — A popular regional term used to designate a hawk, kite, or a nocturnal bird of prey, frequently surrounded by superstitions regarding bad omens or adverse weather conditions. In a folkloric and mythological sense, the formula is utilized as a symbolic bogeyman or an archaic pejorative epithet directed at a quarrelsome, malicious, or ill-omened woman, acting in fairy tales as a personification of destructive forces or physical degradation.
• Baba-Harca — A fairy tale character and mythological entity from Romanian folklore, depicted as a hideous, rapacious, and malicious old woman, often endowed with attributes of a witch or localized shaman. The term evokes extreme decrepitude (the word 'hârcă' referencing a dry skull or a frail bony framework). The figure was consecrated in Romanian dramaturgy through Matei Millo's homonymous operetta (1848), considered the first Romanian operetta, where the character blends the fantastic traits of popular magic with social satire.
• Baba-Novac — A hyphenated spelling variant of the name of the famous Serbian outlaw and military general in the service of Michael the Brave. In modern contexts, the term designates major urban toponyms in Romania's large cities, being assigned to important streets, avenues, parks, or neighborhoods (such as the Baba-Novac area in Bucharest), keeping the historical memory of the anti-Ottoman fighter alive through the street nomenclature.
• Blindman's buff — A popular children's game in which one of the participants is blindfolded with a scarf or handkerchief and must search for, catch, and identify the other players moving around them; by extension, it denotes a confused action, a blind search, or a situation in which someone acts at random without clear reference points.
• Father (slang) — A slang and familiar term used in colloquial speech, especially by youth, to designate one's father or parents (frequently used in the plural form, 'babacii'). The word carries a slightly ironic yet affectionate connotation. In certain secondary regional or archaic contexts, the term historically referred to a respected old man, a head of a family, or an elder, having etymological roots linked to Oriental or Slavic terms signifying parental figures or old men.
• Mother (slang) — A feminine slang and familiar term derived from the masculine 'babac', used in youth colloquial speech to designate one's mother. Although it is a jargon term with slightly ironic or playful undertones, it implicitly expresses an affectionate relationship of family proximity. Historically or within certain secondary regional dialects, the word could also refer to an elderly woman or a grandmother, maintaining its etymological connection to Balkan roots centered on kinship.
• Old hag (slang) — A slang and depreciative term used in daily urban language to designate an elderly woman. The word carries a strongly pejorative connotation, mocking the physical appearance, behavior, or perceived outdated mindset of the person in question. It is constructed by adding a suffix with augmentative-depreciative value, frequently encountered in street jargon or informal discussions where ironic distancing or satirical coloring is intended.
• Old geezer (slang) — A slang and depreciative term used in urban colloquial language to designate an elderly man, serving as the masculine equivalent of the word 'babacioacă'. It carries a strongly ironic or satirical nuance, referencing rigid behaviors, outdated mindsets, or physical decrepitude, being primarily utilized in youth street jargon to express a critical distance from older generations.
• Babadag — A town located in Tulcea County, Dobrogea, Romania, positioned in the northeastern part of the Dobrogea Plateau, near the lake of the same name. With a rich history marked by the period of Ottoman rule, when it functioned as an important administrative, military, and religious center (residence of the pashalik), the town houses remarkable heritage monuments, such as the Ali-Gazi Pasha Mosque (the oldest preserved mosque in Romania) and the tomb of dervish Sari Saltuk, while also serving as a strategic point for ecotourism in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve.
• Babadam — A proper noun assigned to minor toponyms or local geographic elements of archaic nature. Although extremely rare in contemporary major cartography, the term survives in historical documents or regional records as an old administrative designation or a parcel boundary name closely linked to historical population movements or temporary rural settlements from past centuries.
• Big fellow (slang) — A slang and familiar term used to designate a man of imposing stature, bulky, robust, or even corpulent, often past his prime, but who retains a dominant authority or physical presence. Although originating from roots that suggest a respected elder or a family patriarch, in modern jargon it is sometimes used with a slightly ironic, pejorative, or condescending nuance, referencing a rigid, slow-moving individual or someone with an old-fashioned authoritarian behavior.