Alka (Baltic religion)
Alka or alkas is the name of a sacred place or a place for burning sacrifices in Baltic religion. In Latvia and Lithuania alka and elks is the most widespread component in the toponyms for sacred sites. 120 hills, 70 fields and 50 water bodies with such word in their name have been registered.Etymology
The words alka and elks probably derive from the Proto-Indo-European *alku/*elku and may be directly connected with words such as Lithuanian aukoti and Latvian auklēt. Cognates in other languages may include Germanic and Gothic alhs, Saxon alah, the Anglo-Saxon ealh and ealgian, Belorussian галыконшк, and Greek αλδοζ and αλδιζ.
