Where does “ball” come from?

ball (Frankish) comes from Northern Sami bállu, from Northern Sami ballát, from Proto-Samic pëlājëtēk, from Proto-Samic pëlëtēk, from Proto-Uralic pele- — to fear.

Ancestry of “ball”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Northern Samibállutesticle, ball
2Northern Samiballátto become scared
3Proto-Samicpëlājëtēkto become scared
4Proto-Samicpëlëtēkto fear
5Proto-Uralicpele-to fear

Words derived from “ball”

Every word from Proto-Uralic pele- →