Baltic
obsolete racial classification
A subset of "
caucasians"
that was defined as "
short, short-headed, broad-faced, with heavy, massive
under-jaw, chin not prominent, flat, rather broad, short nose with low bridge;
stiff, light (ash-blond) hair; light (grey or whitish blue) eyes, standing out;
light skin with a grey undertone" and was likely coined by the Swedish anthropologist
Nordenstreng. This term was part of a theory of racial hierarchy that gained popularity
in the early part of the
20th
century and formed an underpinning of various "Nordic" racist movments.