bǫllr

Forms

bǫllr m (genitive ballar, plural bellir) (strong u-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *balluz (“ball”),^[1][2] beside the *n*-stem Proto-Germanic *ballô, the source of Old High German ballo and bal.^[3] Kroonen takes the *n*-stem as the original word and explains the Norse stem in ⟨u⟩ as split off from its old accusative plural.^[3] The word has kin in Middle Low German bal and Old English bealloc (“testicle”).^[4][5]

Outside Germanic it is compared with Latin follis (“bellows, bag; ball”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”) and Old Irish ball (“member”).^[2][3] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and de Vries derive the group from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to swell”);^[6][4] Kroonen calls the derivation from such an unattested verbal root probable.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Konungsbók manuscript of Grágás, which ONP dates to 1250, in the sense “scrotum”: ef maðr verðr lostiɴ … a böll “if a man is struck … on the scrotum”, among the blows the law penalises.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Cleasby and Vigfússon call the word rare in the sense “ball”, the common word being knǫttr.^[8] The learned King's Mirror uses it for the sphere of the earth, bǫllr jarðar, and for the rounded front of a wedge-shaped battle array.^[7][9][10] Alexanders saga has it for a ball to play with.^[7][9] The anatomical sense continues in Icelandic böllur, now mainly “penis”,^[6][11] while Swedish boll and Danish bold mean a ball.^[12][6]

Timeline

• 1250 – a böll “on the scrotum” in the Konungsbók manuscript of Grágás.^[7]
• 1270–1280 – boll and bælli in the King's Mirror manuscript AM 243 bα fol.^[13]
• 1275 – allan boll … iarðar “the whole sphere of the earth”, and the front of a battle array, in the King's Mirror.^[7]
• 1270–1290 – bǫllr and bǫllrinn in the manuscript AM 519 a 4to.^[14]
• 1280 – a ball for play in Alexanders saga.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. a sphere, ball or lump;^[7][10][9] bǫllr jarðar the sphere or circumference of the earth.^[7][10][9]
2. the bulky front or centre of a wedge-shaped battle array.^[7][10]
3. the scrotum; a testicle.^[7][9]

Word family

• eldbǫllr
• gullbǫllr
• heimbǫllr
• jarðarbǫllr
• járnbǫllr
• vindbǫllr
• brekkubǫllr

Descendants

• Icelandic böllur^[1]
• Faroese bøllur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk ball^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål ball^[1]
• Swedish boll^[1]
• Danish bold^[1]

Related words

• bolli
• knǫttr

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 34
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 50
4. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 70
5. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 267
6. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. böllur
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. bǫllr
8. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 91
9. ^ a b c d e Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. bǫllr
10. ^ a b c d Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. bǫllr
11. ^ Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 123
12. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. boll
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 243 bα fol
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 519 a 4to