handball

Etymology

It is formed from English hand + ball,^[2][3][4][5] recorded in late Middle English as handballe.^[5] The first part is from Old English hand,^[6] and the second from Middle English bal, probably from an unrecorded Old English *beall.^[6] The verb is a conversion of the noun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A ball for throwing with the hand: about 1440, in the Prose Life of Alexander of the Thornton manuscript.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From about 1450 the word also named the game, in its earliest use any of several outdoor ball games played between two distant goals;^[2] Etymonline describes the old game as one of throwing and catching, popular before bats and rackets.^[4] The wall game like fives, in which the ball is struck with the hand, is recorded from 1704, in Edinburgh,^[2][7] and the modern team sport of seven a side from 1956, though Etymonline finds the name for it by 1885.^[2][4] In Australian Rules football a handball is a pass made by punching the ball out of the other hand (1859, verb 1886), and in soccer it is the offence of touching the ball with the hand (1879, verb 1935).^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – a ball thrown with the hand.^[2]
• c. 1450 – a ball game played between two goals.^[2]
• 1704 – a game like fives, with the ball struck against a wall.^[2][7]
• 1859 – in Australian Rules football, a pass struck from the hand.^[2]
• 1879 – in soccer, the illegal handling of the ball.^[2]
• 1886 – verb, to pass the ball by hand in Australian Rules football.^[2]
• 1935 – verb, to handle the ball illegally.^[2]
• 1956 – the team game of seven a side.^[2] Etymonline finds the name for the modern sport by 1885.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A game in which two or four players strike a small ball with the hand, usually gloved, against a wall or the walls of a court, like fives or squash.^[7][9][10]
2. A team game of seven players a side in which the ball is thrown and passed by hand and shot into a goal.^[9][2]
3. The small rubber ball used in the wall game.^[7][9][10]
4. In soccer, the foul of touching the ball with the hand or arm.^[9][2][8]
5. In Australian Rules football, a pass made by holding the ball in one hand and punching it with the other.^[2][8]

Verb

1. In Australian Rules football, to pass the ball in this way.^[2][8]
2. In soccer and hockey, to handle the ball illegally.^[2]

Word family

• handballer

Related words

• hand
• ball

Usage notes

Hendrickson tells that the game came to America about 1882, when it is said to have been introduced in Brooklyn by an Irish immigrant, Phil Casey.^[11]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File