English
ballad
Ballad comes from French ballade ‘ballade (lyric poem)’, and goes back to Late Latin ballō ‘to dance’.
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEballōas ballare‘to dance’
- Old Occitanc. 950–1500ballada‘poem for a dance’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentballade‘ballade (lyric poem)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1882ballad
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEballōas ballare‘to dance’
- Old Occitanc. 950–1500ballada‘poem for a dance’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentballade‘ballade (lyric poem)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1882ballad
Earliest quotation: 1882, John Ashton, Origin of Ballads: “Of all varieties of poetry, the Ballad, in the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- ‘to throw’
symbol, devil, metabolic, emblem, ballet, hyperbolic, quail, parable, ballistic, quill, parabolic, embolism, anabolic, obelisk, quell, metabolize, pul, hyperbola, ballista, 65 more
Today it means
noun A kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; especially, a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Late Latin ballō / ballad