“Ball as in ‘sphere’ comes from Norse ‘bǫllr’ /bɔlːr/, while ball as in ‘dance p

—“Ball as in ‘sphere’ comes from Norse ‘bǫllr’ /bɔlːr/, while ball as in ‘dance party’ comes from Latin ‘ballare’, which in turn became ‘bal’ (French for ‘a dance’). Totally different roots, it’s just one of those quirks of English having absorbed bits of so many different languages.”—