Perhaps they were trying to avoid the error they committed some decades earlier with phelloplastic.

Go back to Fake words and broken definitions in dictionaries.

Balge yellow is said to be 'sunflower yellow' or 'a brilliant yellow color'.

Now only does Merriam-Webster not have a origin, neither does the Oxford English Dictionary. In fact, the OED doesn't even have a definition. It appears that a frustrated lexicographer may have inserted this word just for the heck of it. I suggest we support this poor logophile by using this word whenever possible.

....if only we know how it was pronounced...