Where does “Tây ba lô” come from?

Tây ba lô (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese ba lô, from French ballot, from French balle, from Middle French balle, from Italian balla, from Old French balle, from Medieval Latin balla, from Frankish balla.

Tây ba lô (Vietnamese): Western backpacker

Definitions

  1. Western backpacker

Ancestry of “Tây ba lô”, step by step

Tây ba lô traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Vietnamese ba lô

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnameseba lôbackpack
2Frenchballotbundle, package; fool, nitwit
3Frenchballe(small) ball
4Middle Frenchballeball; bundle
5Italianballalarge bundle, torsello, bale, reap; falsehood,...
6Old Frenchballe
7Medieval Latinballa
8Frankishballa
9Proto-Germanicballuzround object, ball; ball of the hand, foot, etc
10Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰel-to sound; to speak, roar, bark; shiny, white; to...
11Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰōl-

via Vietnamese Tây

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1VietnameseTâyAlternative letter-case form of tây
2Chinese西
3EnglishWestAny of various particular regions named for the cardinal direction in which they lie
4Middle Englishwestwest; A location to the south; the south; The...
5Old Englishwestwest
6Proto-West Germanic*westrwestern, westernly
7Proto-Germanicwestrąwest; west, westward
8Proto-Germanicwestrazwest, western
9Proto-Indo-Europeanwek(ʷ)sperosevening
10Proto-Indo-Europeanwe-
Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰōl-Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰel-Every word from Proto-Germanic balluz