Where does “buttonball” come from?
buttonball (English) comes from English button, from French bouton, from Italian bottone, from Spanish botón, from Old French boton, from Old French bouter, from Frankish bautan, from Proto-West Germanic bautan — to grow, swell; to swell, wax, grow; to blow; to...
buttonball (English): A tree, the buttonwood or American sycamore
Definitions
- A tree, the buttonwood or American sycamore
Ancestry of “buttonball”, step by step
buttonball traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English button
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | button | A knob or disc that is passed through a loop or (buttonhole), serving as a fastener |
| 2 | French | bouton | button; bud; pimple, spot, zit |
| 3 | Italian | bottone | button; bud |
| 4 | Spanish | botón | button; key; bud |
| 5 | Old French | boton | — |
| 6 | Old French | bouter | to strike; to hit; to place; to put; to enter |
| 7 | Frankish | bautan | to push, strike, beat; to hit, strike; to hit,... |
| 8 | Proto-West Germanic | bautan | to beat |
| 9 | Proto-Germanic | bautaną | to beat, push |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰewd- | to hit, strike; to beat, push; to strike, push,... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰew- | to grow, swell; to swell, wax, grow; to blow; to... |
via English Ball
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Ball | surname |
| 2 | Middle English | bal | A ball; A rounded or spherical lump or bump,... |
| 3 | Old English | beall | ball |
| 4 | English | beal | A small inflammatory tumor; pustule; To gather... |
| 5 | Old English | hyll | hill |
| 6 | Albanian | hulli | furrow |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | hulliz | hill |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | kl̥Hnís | hill |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | kelH- | to rise, to be tall; hill |