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35,981 English word records · 45,491 etymology sections in this online subset
PARTIAL ENGLISH COVERAGE · FULL CORPUS REMAINS LOCAL4 source sections across 2 headwords matching “Ball”. These are separate from the reviewed results below.
BallEnglish (en) · Unnumbered etymologySource text
Multiple theories and origins. * From a short form of the Middle English given name Baldwin. * A toponymic surname for a person that lives near a knoll or rounded hill (i.e. somewhere shaped like a ball). * From the Old Norse given name Balle. * A habitational surname for a person from Ball, Cornwall, from Cornish Pelen.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗ballEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Germanic *balluz Old English *beall Middle English bal English ball From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰol-n- (“ball, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old Saxon ball, Dutch bal, Old High German bal, ballo (German Ball (“ball”); Ballen (“bale”)). Related forms in Romance are borrowings from Germanic. See also balloon, bale.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗ballEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Germanic *balluz Old English *beall Middle English bal English ball From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰol-n- (“ball, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old Saxon ball, Dutch bal, Old High German bal, ballo (German Ball (“ball”); Ballen (“bale”)). Related forms in Romance are borrowings from Germanic. See also balloon, bale.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗ballEnglish (en) · Etymology 2Source text
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-der. Late Latin ballō Old French baller Middle French baler Middle French ballbor. English ball From Middle French bal, from Middle French baler (“to dance”), from Old French baller, from Late Latin ballō (“to dance”). Doublet of baile.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗INDEPENDENT SOURCE LIBRARY
More sources for this spelling
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Chambers (1908)
1908- BallEnglish · e-37683-2141
Ball, bawl, n. anything round: any celestial body, esp. the 'globe:' the golden orb borne with the sceptre as the emblem of sovereignty: a globular body to play with in tennis, football, golf, billiards, &c.: any rounded
Read the full source record → - BallEnglish · e-37683-2142
Ball, bawl, n. an entertainment of dancing.—n. Ball′room.—To open the ball, to begin the dancing, to begin operations. [O. Fr. bal, baller, to dance—Low L. ballare, referred by some to Gr. ballizein.]
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