Etymologically
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balloon

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bəˈluːn/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian ballone, northern Italian dialect for a large ball (standard Italian pallone), perhaps partly through French ballon,[2][3][4][5][6] an augmentative of balla (“ball”), of Germanic origin,[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *ball- (see ball),[3][7] from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- (“to blow, swell”).[3] The ending is -oon.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A game played with a large leather ball kept in the air: 1579, in a version of Plutarch's Lives, in Barnhart; 1580 in the OED, the 1570s in Etymonline.[2][8][3] The ball itself is from 1592.[8][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th and 17th centuries a balloon could also be a ball-shaped ornament on a pillar (1656) or a firework (1634).[8][7] The sense of a large gas-filled bag lifting a basket and passengers came after the Montgolfier brothers' flights of 1782–3, especially the one before the French court at Versailles in September 1783.[2][7][8] The toy balloon is from about 1800 or 1848.[7][8] Figuratively, anything inflated and empty is from 1812.[8] The verb, to go up in a balloon, is from 1792, and to swell out from 1841.[3] When the balloon goes up, when the action starts, is from 1924.[8]

Timeline

  • 1579 – balloon, a ball game.[2]
  • 1592 – the ball itself.[8]
  • 1634 – a firework.[8]
  • 1783 – a lighter-than-air balloon.[2][8]
  • 1792 – to balloon (verb).[3]
  • 1924 – when the balloon goes up.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An inflatable rubber bag used as a toy or decoration.
  2. A large bag filled with hot air or a lighter-than-air gas, which rises and can carry a basket or gondola.

Verb

  1. To ride in a balloon.
  2. To swell out like a balloon.
  3. To increase rapidly.

Adjective

  1. Shaped like a balloon.

Word family

  • balloonist
  • balloonlike
  • balloonfish
  • ballooning
  • kytoon
  • rockoon
  • barrage balloon
  • balloon barrage

Usage notes

In obsolete Scots a balloon was the large leather ball of the game.[9]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)