English
ball
Ball comes from Middle English bal ‘a ball’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to blow, inflate, swell’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-‘to blow’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*balluz‘round object’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*beallreconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bal‘a ball’
- Englishearliest quotation 1659ball
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-‘to blow’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*balluz‘round object’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*beallreconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bal‘a ball’
- Englishearliest quotation 1659ball
Earliest quotation: 1659, Arthur Annesley, England’s Confusion: “[…] the Good Old Cause, which, as they seemed…”
The story
Related forms in Romance are borrowings from Germanic.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to blow, inflate, swell’
bowl, bold, bell, flame, bull, boil, blaze, blush, blur, blizzard, bleach, bolster, budge, sabha, bald, blemish, bale, bola, phlegm, bolero, blithe, phlox, blain, bleat, phallus, 74 more
through Old English *beall
Another origin of ball
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-‘to throw’uncertain
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEballō‘to dance’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400baller
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600baler‘to dance’
- Middle French, derivedc. 1400–1600bal
- Englishtodayball
Today it means
noun A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- / ball