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A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be
ovoid An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...
) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for simpler activities, such as catch or juggling. Balls made from hard-wearing materials are used in engineering applications to provide very low friction bearings, known as ball bearings.
Black-powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...
weapons use stone and metal balls as
projectile A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found in ...
s. Although many types of balls are today made from rubber, this form was unknown outside the Americas until after the voyages of
Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...
. The Spanish were the first Europeans to see the bouncing rubber balls (although solid and not inflated) which were employed most notably in the Mesoamerican ballgame. Balls used in various sports in other parts of the world prior to Columbus were made from other materials such as animal bladders or skins, stuffed with various materials. As balls are one of the most familiar spherical objects to humans, the word "ball" may refer to or describe spherical or near-spherical objects. "Ball" is used metaphorically sometimes to denote something spherical or spheroid, e.g., armadillos and human beings curl up into a ball, making a fist into a ball.


Etymology

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 ' in the phrase, "" The word came from the Middle English ''bal'' (inflected as ''ball-e, -es'', in turn from Old Norse ''böllr'' (pronounced ; 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 In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
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 besides the word σφαίρα (''sfaíra''), '' sphere''.


History

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 An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
, but to a
kitten A kitten is a juvenile cat. After being born, kittens display primary altriciality and are totally dependent on their mothers for survival. They normally do not open their eyes for seven to ten days. After about two weeks, kittens develop qu ...
and a puppy. Some form of game with a ball is found portrayed on
Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
monuments, and is played among aboriginal tribes at the present day. In Homer,
Nausicaa Nausicaa (; grc, Ναυσικάα, Nausikáa, or , ) also spelled Nausicaä or Nausikaa, is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey''. She is the daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia. Her name means "burner of ships" ( 'ship'; 'to b ...
was playing at ball with her maidens when
Odysseus Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysse ...
first saw her in the land of the
Phaeacia Scheria or Scherie (; grc, Σχερία or ), also known as Phaeacia () or Faiakia was a region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's ''Odyssey'' as the home of the Phaeacians and the last destination of Odysseus in his 10-year journey b ...
ns (Od. vi. 100). And Halios and Laodamas performed before Alcinous and Odysseus with ball play, accompanied with dancing (Od. viii. 370). The most ancient balls in Eurasia have been discovered in Karasahr,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and are 3.000 years old. They were made of hair-filled leather.


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. It was impossible to produce a ball that was perfectly spherical; children usually made their own balls by inflating pig's bladders and heating them in the ashes of a fire to make them rounder, although Plato (fl. 420s BC – 340s BC) described "balls which have leather coverings in twelve pieces".


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 Gauntlet or the gauntlet may refer to: Common uses *Gauntlet (glove), protective gloves used as a form of armor *Running the gauntlet, a form of physical punishment Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Gauntlet (comics), a Marvel ...
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 , also known as , was a form of ball game played in the Roman Empire. The Romans also referred to it as the small ball game. The ball used was small (not as large as a , , or football-sized ball) and hard, probably about the size and solidity of ...
, 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.


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 Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...
,
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
,
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
, etc.


Round balls

File:Football Pallo valmiina-cropped.jpg,
Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
from association football (soccer) File:Гандбол.jpg,
Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
File:Bandy ball (Orange).JPG, Bandy ball File:Baseball (crop).jpg, Baseball File:Basketball.png, Basketball File:Billiards balls.jpg, Billiard balls File:Ball and pin.jpg, Bowling ball (and pin) File:Cricket-ball-red-madeinaustralia.jpg,
Cricket ball A cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket. A cricket ball consists of a cork core wound with string then a leather cover stitched on, and manufacture is regulated by cricket law at first-class level. The trajectory of a crick ...
File:Golfball.jpg, Golf ball File:Brine lax ball.jpg, Lacrosse ball File:Rink bandy ball.JPG,
Rinkball Rinkball is a winter team sport played on ice with ice skates and is most popular in Finland, where it is known as ''kaukalopallo''. This ball sport originated in Sweden in the 1960s and from there landed in Finland in the 1970s. The objective ...
File:Roller-hockey-(Quad)-Ball.jpg, Roller hockey ball File:Green_Rubber_Band_Ball.jpg, Rubber band ball File:Squash Ball Dunlop Revelation Pro 1.jpg, Squash ball File:Assortment of 40 mm table tennis balls.jpg,
Table tennis ball Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
s File:Tennis_ball_01.jpg, Tennis ball File:Volleyball.jpg, Volleyball File:NewWaterPoloBall.JPG,
Water polo ball A water polo ball is a ball used in water polo and canoe polo, usually characterized by a bright yellow color and ease of grip ability, so as to allow it to be held with one hand despite its large size. Standard water polo ball characterist ...
File:Black Super Ball.jpg, Super Ball


Prolate spheroid balls

Several sports use a ball in the shape of a prolate spheroid: File:Wilson American football.jpg, American football. File:Sherrin.png,
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
. File:Canadian football.png, Canadian football. File:Rugbyball2.jpg, Rugby union ball.


See also

* Ball (mathematics) * Buckminster Fullerene "Bucky balls" *
Football (ball) A football is a ball inflated with air that is used to play one of the various sports known as football. In these games, with some exceptions, goals or points are scored only when the ball enters one of two designated goal-scoring areas; footba ...
* Kickball * Marbles *
Penny floater A penny floater is a kind of cheap football commonly used by children in the Western world. Its name derives from the fact that when they were first developed in the 1960s they cost a penny. The penny floater may have originated in Italy. The fl ...
*
Prisoner Ball Newcomb ball (also known simply as Newcomb, and sometimes spelled Newcombe (ball))As the game is named after Sophie Newcomb College, its name has been typically capitalized. is a ball game played in a gymnasium or court using two opposing teams ...
*
Shuttlecock A shuttlecock (also called a birdie or shuttle) is a high-drag projectile used in the sport of badminton. It has an open conical shape formed by feathers or plastic (or a synthetic alternative) embedded into a rounded cork (or rubber) base. T ...
* Super Ball


References


External links

* {{Authority control