"ball" in seven languages
Meaningball
Spanish
/peˈlota/
fem.other source · Old French pelote, from Latin PILA 'ball'
A big inflated ball (a football) is un balón, via Italian pallone.
French
/bal/
fem.borrowed · Italian palla (16th c.)
A big inflated ball is un ballon.
Italian
/ˈpalla/
fem.inherited
A football is un pallone.
Portuguese
/ˈbɔlɐ/
fem.other source · Latin BULLA 'bubble, knob'
Romanian
/ˈmindʒe/
fem.other source · of uncertain origin
Catalan
/piˈlɔtə/
fem.other source · a diminutive of Latin PILA 'ball'
English
/bɔl/
native English · Middle English bal (Old Norse bǫllr)
A Germanic relative of the Lombards' *palla.
The ancestor
Lombardic *palla‘ball’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Italian got palla from the Lombards and lent it to French (balle, ballon) and Spanish (balón). Spanish's everyday pelota comes instead from Latin PILA through Old French.
English relatives: balloon, ballot (both via Italian)
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLos niños juegan con una pelota.
- frLes enfants jouent avec une balle.
- itI bambini giocano con una palla.
- ptAs crianças estão brincando de bola.
- roCopiii se joacă cu mingea.
- caEls nens juguen amb una pilota.
- enThe children are playing with a ball.