*ballô

Runic: ᛒᚨᛚᛟ Pronunciation: /ˈbɑl.lɔːː/

noun · masculine · an-stem

Meanings

ball

Etymology

The ‘ball, round object’ complex likely arose from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (‘to swell up’). The original nominal form that entered Proto-Germanic seems to have been an old n-stem, pre-Germanic *balo ~ *ballaz from PIE *bʰól-ōn ~ bʰl̥-n-ós. The related forms *balluz (‘round object, ball; (anatomy) ball of the hand, foot’), *bullô (‘round object, ball; round vessel, bowl’), and *bullǭ (‘round object, ball; round vessel, bowl’) likely split off from this original form. For example, North Proto-Germanic *balluz was likely derived from the plural accusative of this form, i.e. pre-Germanic *balluns from PIE *bʰol-n-ń̥s and then reanalyzed as a u-stem. The others were likely also derived from oblique forms in zero-grade (Kroonen 2013).

Declension

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom.	ballô	ballaniz
Acc.	ballanų	ballanunz
Gen.	balliniz	ballanǫ̂
Dat.	ballini	ballammaz
Inst.	ballinē	ballammiz
Voc.	ballô	ballaniz

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Descendants

ballō (Proto-West Germanic)
- bolla (Old English)
  - balle (Middle English)
    - ball (English)
    - boll, bow, bowie (Scots)
*ballō (Proto-West Germanic)
- *ball, *bal (Frankish)
  - balla, palla, bala (Medieval Latin)
    - bale (Old French)
      - bale (Middle Dutch)
        
        baal (Dutch)
*ballō (Proto-West Germanic)
- *ball, *bal (Frankish)
  - balla, palla, bala (Medieval Latin)
    - bale (Old French)
      - bale (Middle English)
        
        bale (English)
*ballō (Proto-West Germanic)
- *ball, *bal (Frankish)
  - balla, palla, bala (Medieval Latin)
    - balle (Old French)
      - balla (Italian)
        
        pallone, balone, ballone (Italian)
        
        ballon (Middle French)
        
        balloon (English)
        
        ballon (French)
*ballō (Proto-West Germanic)
- *ball, *bal (Frankish)
  - *bal (Old Dutch)
    - bal (Middle Dutch)
      - bal (Limburgish)
      - bol (West Flemish)
*ballō (Proto-West Germanic)
- *beall (Old English)
  - bal, ball, balle (Middle English)
    - ball (English)
    - baw, ba, baa, ball (Scots)
*ballō (Proto-West Germanic)
- *bal (Old Frisian)
  - Baal (Saterland Frisian)
  - bal (West Frisian)
*ballō (Proto-West Germanic)
- bal (Old High German)
  - bal, ball (Middle High German)
    - Bal, Ball (Central Franconian)
    - Ball (German)
    - Ball (Luxembourgish)
*ballō (Proto-West Germanic)
- ball, bal (Old Saxon)
  - bal (Middle Low German)
    - Ball (Low German)
    - Baul (Plautdietsch)

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