palla

Forms

palla f (plural palle)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Lombardic *palla, the Lombardic word for “ball”, which matches Frankish *balla behind balla (“bale”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Migliorini, quoted by DELI, argued that words showing the High German consonant shift (⟨palla⟩ and ⟨panca⟩ beside ⟨balla⟩ and ⟨banca⟩) can only be Lombardic, or later loans from Old High German.^[2] Meyer-Lübke put the Frankish and the Lombardic word under one etymon: the first gave the Italian word for “bale” and French balle (and so Spanish bala and Portuguese bala), the second only this Italian word.^[7]

The LEI is more cautious: it accepts a pre-Roman base ⟨*ball-⟩ or ⟨*pall-⟩ “rounded body”, mostly Alpine and Pyrenean, with pre-Roman suffixes and a sense “boulder” in its dialect forms;^[8] Sganzini had thought of a very old Alpine substrate word drawn towards the word for “bale” by folk etymology.^[8] Merlo, Meyer-Lübke and Hubschmid defended a Germanic root, and the LEI still counts at least a partial Lombardic influence as likely, because the core senses of the forms with ⟨p-⟩ (“globe”, “playing ball”) match Old High German bal exactly.^[8] Wiktionary traces the Germanic word to Proto-Germanic *balluz or Proto-Germanic *ballô and to Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, swell”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, for a round object;^[2][4] Dante has the playing ball in 1304–1308.^[2][4] In the Convivio Dante tells how Seneca saw “una palla di fuoco”, a ball of fire, in the sky when the emperor Augustus died.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch has the three golden balls that beat Atalanta in the race, and Dante the golden balls (palle dell'oro) that brought glory to Florence in Paradiso 16.^[9][10] With firearms the word passed to the stone or iron shot of cannon (end of the 15th century, Biringuccio, before 1537, still calls it a new thing in war) and then to the bullet (1532, Ariosto).^[2] The ball fixed to a convict's foot is recorded in 1868 (Carducci), the white and black balls used for voting in a Lucca document of 1580, and the plural “testicles” in Belli in 1841 (in Romanesco already in 1831).^[2] From that sense come che palle! “what a bore!” and palloso “boring” (1980).^[11][3]

Games gave a family of compounds: pallacorda, the old game from which tennis developed (palle da fare alla corda in Berni before 1535, pallacorda in 1666), and pallamaglio (1545).^[2] In the 20th century pallacanestro (1935, after palla al canestro in 1920) and pallavolo were modelled on English basketball and volleyball, pallanuoto corresponds to water polo and pallabase (1963) to baseball.^[2] Set phrases include cogliere la palla al balzo “to seize the moment” and palla al piede “a millstone round one's neck”.^[12][11]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses palla for a round object.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for a playing ball.^[2]
• End of the 15th century – Palla is used for cannon shot.^[2]
• 1532 – Ariosto uses it for a bullet.^[2]
• 1580 – A Lucca document has voting balls.^[2]
• 1666 – Pallacorda is recorded as one word.^[2]
• 1841 – Belli has the plural for “testicles”.^[2]
• 1868 – Carducci mentions the convict's ball and chain.^[2]
• 1935 – Pallacanestro “basketball” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ball, any round object: una palla di neve, a snowball, la palla dell'occhio, the eyeball.^{[4][5][13][14]}
2. A ball used in games and sports: I ragazzi giocavano a palla nel cortile.^[4][5][13]
3. (sport) A play or shot in a game: Ha sbagliato una palla facile davanti alla porta.^[4][12]
4. (historical) A cannonball; any bullet or projectile of a firearm.^[4][13][11]
5. (historical) The iron ball chained to a prisoner's foot.^[4][13][11]
6. (heraldry) A round charge on a shield.^[13][11][1]
7. (colloquial) A fib, a lie: Non credergli, racconta solo palle.^[4][11][1]
8. (vulgar, usually plural) testicles; figuratively a bore, something tedious: che palle!, “what a drag!”^[11][1][2]

Word family

• pallone
• pallina
• pallino
• palloncino
• pallottola
• palleggiare
• palleggio
• pallettone
• palloso
• impallare
• rimpallare
• rimpallo
• impallinare
• appallottolare
• pallacanestro
• pallavolo
• pallanuoto
• pallamano
• pallacorda
• pallamaglio
• pallabase

Related words

• balla

Usage notes

Two minor words share the spelling: one is the palla of Roman women, a wide outer robe, a learned word from Latin palla (“mantle”) recorded from the 14th century (Livio volgarizzato); de Vaan finds no etymology for the Latin word, which may be a loan.^[2][4][15] The other is the palla that covers the chalice at Mass (1313), perhaps the same word.^[2][4][16] DELI numbers the robe 1 and the ball 2, while Nocentini and GRADIT put the ball first.^[2][3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 u Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 597
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 407
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f g Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
16. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 410