Ball

Ball
This interesting name has a number of possible derivations. Firstly, it may be of early medieval English origin, from a nickname for a short, rounded person, derived from the Middle English "bal(le)", ball, a development of the Olde English pre 7th Century "bealla", and influenced by the Old Norse "bollr". In some cases the nickname may have referred to a bald man, from the same word used in the sense of a round, hairless patch on the skull; interestingly, the modern English term "bald" derives from a contracted form of the Middle English "ballede", from "bal(le)" with "-ede", that is, "having a balle". Secondly, the surname Ball may be topographical in origin, from the same term, "bal(le)", used in the transferred sense of denoting someone who lived by a knoll or rounded hill. Finally, Ball may derive from the Old Norse personal name "Balle", of obscure etymology, but believed to be derived from "bal", torture, pain, or the Old German personal name "Balle", from "bald", bold. Early recordings of the name from each of these derivations include: Robert le Bal (1296, Sussex); Henry atte Balle (1327), Somerset); and Norman Balle (1183, Northamptonshire). One Robart Ball was a very early emigrant to the American colonies; he is recorded as resident in Virginia in 1624, having arrived in the "London Marchant" in 1619, a year before the arrival of the "Mayflower's". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godwin Balle, which was dated 1137, in the "Early London Personal Names", by E. Ekwall, during the reign of King Stephen, known as "Count of Blois", 1135 - 1154. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Surnames reference. 2013.

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  • Ball — (b[add]l), n. [OE. bal, balle; akin to OHG. balla, palla, G. ball, Icel. b[ o]llr, ball; cf. F. balle. Cf. 1st {Bale}, n., {Pallmall}.] 1. Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow. [1913 Webster]… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ball — Ⅰ. ball [1] ► NOUN 1) a solid or hollow sphere, especially one that is kicked, thrown, or hit in a game. 2) a single throw or kick of the ball in a game. 3) N. Amer. a game played with a ball, especially baseball. ► VERB ▪ squeeze or form into a… …   English terms dictionary

  • ball — ball; ball·er; ball·ing; ball·iz·ing; base·ball; bee·ball; em·ball; high·ball·er; knuck·le·ball·er; spit·ball·er; bucky·ball; foos·ball; scuzz·ball; track·ball; …   English syllables

  • Ball — Ball. Ein gesellschaftlicher Tanzverein. Man leitet diesen Ausdruck von dem italienischen ballare tanzen, ballo Tanzgesellschaft, und dem französischen bal ab, was allerdings wahrscheinlicher ist als die Erklärung Nachtigall s, (in seinen… …   Damen Conversations Lexikon

  • ball — ball1 [bôl] n. [ME bal < OE * beallu < IE base * bhel , to swell > BOWL1, BLADDER, ON bǫllr, OHG balla, Gr phallos, L follis & flare] 1. any round, or spherical, object; sphere; globe 2. a planet or star, esp. the earth …   English World dictionary

  • BALL — (Biochemical Algorithms Library) is a C++ library containing common algorithms used in biochemistry and bioinformatics. The library also has Python bindings. Among the supported systems are Linux, Solaris, Microsoft Windows. The library can be… …   Wikipedia

  • Ball — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda El término ball puede hacer referencia a: Ball, el primer juego de Game Watch. bola mala, expresión utilizada en béisbol. la abreviatura botánica para John Ball. Ball, un álbum de la banda Iron Butterfly. Obtenido de …   Wikipedia Español

  • BALL (J.) — BALL JOHN (mort en 1381) La plupart des chroniques, dont celle de Froissart, présentent John Ball comme l’un des grands responsables du soulèvement des paysans et des artisans en Angleterre en 1381. Peut être, disciple de John Wyclif, aurait il… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Ball — Ball: Ball   общепринятое сокращение (обозначение) имени ботаника, которое добавляется к научным (латинским) названиям некоторых таксонов ботанической номенклатуры и указывает на то, что автором этих наименований является Болл, Джон… …   Википедия

  • Ball — Ball, n. [F. bal, fr. OF. baler to dance, fr. LL. ballare. Of uncertain origin; cf. Gr. ba llein to toss or throw, or pa llein, pa llesqai, to leap, bound, balli zein to dance, jump about; or cf. 1st {Ball}, n.] 1. A social assembly for the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Ball — Ball, v. t. 1. (Metal.) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling. [1913 Webster] 2. To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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