The first known use of the word ball in English in the sense of a globular body that is played with

was in 1205
in Laȝamon's Brut, or Chronicle of Britain in the phrase, "Summe heo driuen balles wide ȝeond Þa feldes." The
word came from the Middle English bal (inflected as ball-e, -es, in turn from Old Norse böllr (pronounced [bɔlːr];
compare Old Swedish baller, and Swedish boll) from Proto-Germanic ballu-z (whence probably Middle High
German bal, ball-es, Middle Dutch bal), a cognate with Old High German ballo, pallo, Middle High German
balle from Proto-Germanic *ballon (weak masculine), and Old High German ballâ, pallâ, Middle High
German balle, Proto-Germanic *ballôn (weak feminine). No Old English representative of any of these is
known. (The answering forms in Old English would have been beallu, -a, -e—compare bealluc, ballock.) If ball-
was native in Germanic, it may have been a cognate with the Latin foll-is in sense of a "thing blown up or
inflated." In the later Middle English spelling balle the word coincided graphically with the French balle"ball" and
"bale" which has hence been erroneously assumed to be its source. French balle (but not boule) is assumed to
be of Germanic origin, itself, however. In Ancient Greek the word πάλλα (palla) for "ball" is attested[2] besides
the word "σφαίρα", sphere.[3]

History

Russian leather balls (Russian: мячи), 12th-13th century.

A ball, as the essential feature in many forms of gameplay requiring physical exertion, must date from the very
earliest times. A rolling object appeals not only to a human baby, but to a kitten and a puppy. Some form of
game with a ball is found portrayed on Egyptian monuments, and is played among aboriginal tribes at the
present day. In Homer, Nausicaa was playing at ball with her maidens when Odysseus first saw her in the land
of the Phaeacians (Od. vi. 100). And Halios and Laodamas performed before Alcinous and Odysseus with ball
play, accompanied with dancing (Od. viii. 370).

Ancient Greeks
Among the ancient Greeks, games with balls (σφαῖραι) were regarded as a useful subsidiary to the more
violent athletic exercises, as a means of keeping the body supple, and rendering it graceful, but were generally
left to boys and girls. Of regular rules for the playing of ball games, little trace remains, if there were any such.
The names in Greek for various forms, which have come down to us in such works as the Ὀνομαστικόν
of Julius Pollux, imply little or nothing of such; thus, ἀπόρραξις (aporraxis) only means the putting of the ball on
the ground with the open hand, οὐρανία (ourania), the flinging of the ball in the air to be caught by two or more
players; φαινίνδα (phaininda) would seem to be a game of catch played by two or more, where feinting is used
as a test of quickness and skill. Pollux (i. x. 104) mentions a game called episkyros (ἐπίσκυρος), which has
often been looked on as the origin of football. It seems to have been played by two sides, arranged in lines;
how far there was any form of "goal" seems uncertain.[4] It was impossible to produce a ball that was perfectly
spherical;[5] children usually made their own balls by inflating pig's bladders and heating them in the ashes of a
fire to make them rounder.[5]

Ancient Romans
Among the Romans, ball games were looked upon as an adjunct to the bath, and were graduated to the age
and health of the bathers, and usually a place (sphaeristerium) was set apart for them in the baths (thermae).
There appear to have been three types or sizes of ball, the pila, or small ball, used in catching games,
the paganica, a heavy ball stuffed with feathers, and the follis, a leather ball filled with air, the largest of the
three. This was struck from player to player, who wore a kind of gauntlet on the arm. There was a game known
as trigon, played by three players standing in the form of a triangle, and played with the follis, and also one
known as harpastum, which seems to imply a "scrimmage" among several players for the ball. These games
are known to us through the Romans, though the names are Greek.[4]

Modern ball games

The various modern games played with a ball or balls and subject to rules are treated under their various
names, such as polo, cricket, football, etc.[4]