Where does “bal” come from?

bal (Polish) comes from Old Polish bal, from Middle High German balle, from Old High German ballo, from Old High German bal, from Northern Sami bállu, from Northern Sami ballát, from Proto-Samic pëlājëtēk, from Proto-Samic pëlëtēk — to fear.

bal (Polish): ball; log

Definitions

  1. ball; log

Ancestry of “bal”, step by step

bal traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Old Polish bal

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Polishbalbale
2Middle High Germanballe—
3Old High Germanballo—
4Old High Germanbalball
5Northern Samibállutesticle, ball
6Northern Samiballátto become scared
7Proto-Samicpëlājëtēkto become scared
8Proto-Samicpëlëtēkto fear
9Proto-Uralicpele-to fear

via German Balken

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1GermanBalkenbeam, crossbeam; bar; beam
2Old High Germanbalkobeam
3Proto-West Germanicbalkōbeam, balk
4Proto-Germanicbalkôbeam, balk
5Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰelǵ-to balk, beam

via French bal

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchbaldance party, ball
2Late Latinballareto play, dance; to dance; present active...
3Ancient Greekβαλλίζωto dance, jump about
4Proto-Indo-EuropeangʷelH-to throw, reach, pierce; to hit by throwing

Words derived from “bal”

Every word from Proto-Uralic pele- →Every word from Proto-Samic pëlëtēk →Every word from Proto-Samic pëlājëtēk →