'balter' originates from Scots (early modern English/Scots), specifically the word 'balter', where it is likely an imitative or echoic formation suggesting tumbling or lively, ungraceful movement.

'balter' was used in Scots and early modern English with the form 'balter' (or similar spellings) and was adopted into wider modern English with the same form 'balter'.

Initially, it meant 'to move or dance in a lively, often clumsy way', and over time it has retained that basic sense of 'dancing or moving awkwardly but joyfully'.