Where does “Ballsperre” come from?
Ballsperre (German) comes from German sperre, from German sperren, from Middle High German sperren, from Old High German sperran, from Proto-Germanic *sparrijan, from Proto-Germanic *sparrijaną — to bar, to block.
Ballsperre (German): the foul committed by preventing the ball from being freely playable, typically by clamping it between one’s legs
Definitions
- the foul committed by preventing the ball from being freely playable, typically by clamping it between one’s legs
Ancestry of “Ballsperre”, step by step
Ballsperre traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via German sperre
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German | sperre | inflection of sperren: ## first-person singular... |
| 2 | German | sperren | to bar; to space out the letters of a word or... |
| 3 | Middle High German | sperren | — |
| 4 | Old High German | sperran | to put up rafters, beams; to barricade |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | *sparrijan | — |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | *sparrijaną | to bar, to block |