quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- castor
- castor: There are two distinct words castor in English. The older originally meant ‘beaver’ [14], and was early used with reference to a bitter pungent substance secreted by glands near the beaver’s anus, employed in medicine and perfumery. The term castor oil [18] probably comes from the use of this oil, derived from the seed of a tropical plant, as a substitute for castor in medicine.
The more recent castor [17] is simply a derivative of the verb cast; it was originally (and still often is) spelled caster. Its use for sprinkling or ‘throwing’ sugar is obvious (the term castor sugar dates back to the mid 19th century), but its application to a ‘small swivelling wheel’ is less immediately clear: it comes from a now obsolete sense of the verb, mainly nautical, ‘veer, turn’: ‘Prepare for casting to port’, George Nares, Seamanship 1882.
=> cast - escape
- escape: [14] Originally, escape meant literally ‘take off one’s cloak’, and signified metaphorically ‘throw off restraint’ – much as we might say unbutton. The word appears to come ultimately from Vulgar Latin *excappāre, a hypothetical compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out, off’ and cappa ‘cloak’ (source of English cape). This passed into Old Northern French as escaper (immediate source of the English word), by which time the metaphor had progressed from ‘throwing off restraint’ to ‘gaining one’s liberty’.
=> cape - frank
- frank: [13] To call someone frank is to link them with the Germanic people who conquered Gaul around 500 AD, the Franks, who gave their name to modern France and the French. After the conquest, full political freedom was granted only to ethnic Franks or to those of the subjugated Celts who were specifically brought under their protection. Hence, franc came to be used as an adjective meaning ‘free’ – a sense it retained when English acquired it from Old French: ‘He was frank and free born in a free city’, John Tiptoft, Julius Caesar’s commentaries 1470.
In both French and English, however, it gradually progressed semantically via ‘liberal, generous’ and ‘open’ to ‘candid’. Of related words in English, frankincense [14] comes from Old French franc encens, literally ‘superior incense’ (‘superior’ being a now obsolete sense of French franc), and franc [14], the French unit of currency, comes from the Latin phrase Francorum rex ‘king of the Franks’, which appeared on the coins minted during the reign of Jean le Bon (1350–64).
The Franks, incidentally, supposedly got their name from their preferred weapon, the throwing spear, in Old English franca.
=> french - jettison
- jettison: [15] Etymologically, to jettison something is to ‘throw’ it overboard. Like jet, as in ‘jet engine’, the word comes from Latin jactāre ‘throw’. The abstract noun derived from this was jactātiō, which entered English via Anglo-Norman getteson. It was used for the ‘action of throwing cargo overboard, especially in order to lighten a ship’, but it was not converted to its familiar modern role, as a verb, until as recently as the 19th century. The contracted form jetson, later jetsam, emerged in the 16th century, and later came to be used for such jettisoned material washed ashore.
=> jet, jctsam - launch
- launch: English has two separate words launch. The verb, ‘propel’ [14], is related to lance. Lances are propelled by throwing, and so the derived Old French verb lancier was used for ‘throw’. English acquired it via the Anglo- Norman form launcher. The sense ‘put a boat into the water’ emerged at the end of the 14th century. From the same source came modern French élancer ‘throw out’, whose derivative élan was acquired by English in the 19th century. Launch ‘boat’ [17] comes via Portuguese lancha from a Malay word related to lancharan ‘boat’.
=> élan, lance - pile
- pile: English has three words pile. The commonest, ‘heap’ [15], originally meant ‘pillar’. It comes ultimately from Latin pīla ‘pillar’, source also of English pilaster, pillar, etc. This evolved in meaning to ‘pier or harbour wall made of stones’, and inspired a derived verb pīlāre ‘heap up’ (source of English compile [14]).
The sense ‘heap’ came to the fore in Old French pile, and passed into English. Pile ‘post driven into the ground’ [OE] was borrowed into Old English from Latin pīlum ‘javelin’. It was originally used for a ‘throwing spear’, ‘arrow’, or ‘spike’, and its present-day use did not emerge (via ‘pointed stake or post’) until the Middle English period. Pile ‘nap on cloth, carpets, etc’ [15] probably comes via Anglo-Norman pyle from Latin pilus ‘hair’ (which may be distantly related to English pillage and pluck, and lies behind English depilatory [17]).
=> compile, pilaster, pillar; depilatory - pool
- pool: Pool of water [OE] and pool ‘collective amount’ [17] are distinct words in English. The former comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *pōl-, source also of German pfuhl and Dutch poel. The latter was borrowed from French poule ‘hen’, a descendant of Latin pullus ‘young chicken’ (source also of English pony, poultry, and pullet).
There was a French game called jeu de la poule, the ‘hen game’, involving throwing things at a hen – which you won as a prize if you hit it. Hence poule came to be used figuratively for ‘target’, and also for ‘that which is at stake in a game’ – source of the original meaning of English pool, ‘stake’. This evolved via ‘stake made up of players’ contributions’ to ‘collective amount’ and ‘collective resource’. Pool the snooker-like game is the same word; the game was originally played for a collective stake.
=> foal, pony, poultry, pullet - shy
- shy: Shy ‘timid, reserved’ [OE] goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *skeukhwaz ‘afraid’ (source also of English eschew and skew). It is generally assumed that shy ‘throw’ [18] must have come from it, but the exact nature of the relationship between the two words is not clear. The original application of the verb seems to have been specifically to the throwing of sticks at chickens, and it has been suggested, not altogether convincingly, that its use alludes to the notion of a ‘shy’ cockerel that refuses to fight (there was an 18th- and early 19th-century slang term shy-cock which meant ‘cowardly person’).
=> eschew, skew - sling
- sling: English has at least two distinct words sling, maybe more – the picture is far from clear. The first to appear was the verb, ‘throw’ [13]. This was probably borrowed from Old Norse slyngva, but as it originally meant specifically ‘throw with a sling’ there is clearly some connection with the noun sling ‘strap for throwing stones’ [13], whose immediate source was perhaps Middle Low German slinge. Sling ‘loop or strap for holding things’ [14] may be the same word, although there is no conclusive proof for this. Sling ‘spirit-based drink’ [18] first came on the scene in America, but its origins are unknown.
- symbol
- symbol: [15] Etymologically, a symbol is something ‘thrown together’. The word’s ultimate source is Greek sumbállein, a compound verb formed from the prefix sun- ‘together’ and bállein ‘throw’ (source of English ballistic, problem, etc). The notion of ‘throwing or putting things together’ led on to the notion of ‘contrast’, and so sumbállein came to be used for ‘compare’. From it was derived súmbolon, which denoted an ‘identifying token’ – because such tokens were ‘compared’ with a counterpart to make sure they were genuine – and hence an ‘outward sign’ of something.
=> ballistic, parable, parole, problem - throw
- throw: [OE] Old English thrāwan meant ‘twist, turn’. It came from a prehistoric Germanic *thrējan, which also produced German drehen ‘turn’. This in turn went back to the Indo- European base *ter-, whose other descendants include Greek teírein ‘wear out’, Latin terere ‘rub’ (source of English attrition [14], contrition [13], and trite [16]), Lithuanian trinù ‘rub, file, saw’, Welsh taradr ‘auger’, and English thread and turn.
It is not clear how the original sense ‘twist, turn’ (which survives in ‘throwing a pot’ on a potter’s wheel) evolved in English into ‘project, hurl’ (first recorded in the 13th century), but presumably there must have been some intermediate phase such as ‘throw with a twisting action – as in throwing the discus’.
=> attrition, contrition, thread, trite, turn - ventriloquist
- ventriloquist: [17] A ventriloquist is etymologically a ‘stomach-speaker’. The word is an anglicization of late Latin ventriloquus, a compound formed from Latin venter ‘stomach’ (source also of English ventral [18] and ventricle [14]) and loquī ‘speak’ (source of English colloquial [18], elocution [15], eloquent [14], loquacious [17], etc).
The ultimate model for this was Greek eggastrímuthos ‘speaking in the stomach’. The term was originally a literal one; it referred to the supposed phenomenon of speaking from the stomach or abdomen, particularly as a sign of possession by an evil spirit. It was not used for the trick of throwing one’s voice until the end of the 18th century.
=> colloquial, elocution, eloquent, locution, loquatious, ventral, ventricle - warp
- warp: [OE] Warp originally meant ‘throw’ (‘Saint Paul’s head after his decease in a deep vewar [fishpond] warped was’, Scottish Legends of the Saints 1375). The notion of ‘bending’ or ‘twisting’ is a secondary development (first recorded in the 14th century). Its immediate inspiration may have been the related Old Norse past participle orpinn ‘warped’, but the underlying motivation was no doubt a conceptual link between ‘throwing’ and ‘twisting’, presumably via ‘throw with a twisting action’ (it is probably no coincidence that English throw originally meant ‘twist’).
The word came from a prehistoric Germanic base *werb-, which also produced German werfen and Dutch werpan ‘throw’. This was probably descended from Indo-European *wer-, source also of Latin vertere ‘turn’, from which English gets revert, version, etc.
=> convert, revert, version, wharf - abjection (n.)
- early 15c., from Old French abjection (14c.), from Latin abjectionem (nominative abjectio) "dejection, despondency," literally "a throwing away," noun of action from past participle stem of abicere (see abject).
- Amphiscians (n.)
- 1620s, from Medieval Latin Amphiscii, from Greek amphiskioi "inhabitants of the tropics," literally "throwing a shadow both ways," from amphi- "on both sides" (see amphi-) + skia "shadow" (see shine (v.)). Inhabitants of torrid zones, so called because they are "people whose shadow is sometimes to the North, and sometimes to the South" [Cockerham, 1623].
- arbalest (n.)
- "crossbow," c. 1300, from Old French arbaleste "large crossbow with a crank" (12c., Modern French arbalète), from Vulgar Latin arbalista, from Late Latin arcuballista "catapult," from Latin arcus "bow" (see arc (n.)) + ballista "machine for throwing projectiles" (see ballistic). German armbrust is from the same French word but mangled by folk etymology.
- atlatl (n.)
- Native American throwing stick, 1871, from Nahuatl (Aztecan) atlatl "spear-thrower."
- ballista (n.)
- ancient war engine, late 14c., from Latin ballista, literally "a throwing machine," from Greek ballein "to throw" (see ballistics).
- ballistics (n.)
- 1753, "art of throwing; science of projectiles," with -ics + Latin ballista "ancient military machine for hurling stones," from Greek ballistes, from ballein "to throw, to throw so as to hit," also in a looser sense, "to put, place, lay;" from PIE root *gwele- (1) "to throw, reach," in extended senses "to pierce" (cognates: Sanskrit apa-gurya "swinging," balbaliti "whirls, twirls;" Greek bole "a throw, beam, ray," belemnon "dart, javelin," belone "needle"). Here, too, probably belongs Greek ballizein "to dance," literally "to throw one's body," ancient Greek dancing being highly athletic.
- basilisk (n.)
- c. 1300, from Latin basiliscus, from Greek basiliskos "little king," diminutive of basileus "king" (see Basil); said by Pliny to have been so called because of a crest or spot on its head resembling a crown.
The basilisk has since the fourteenth century been confused with the Cockatrice, and the subject is now a complicated one. [T.H. White, "The Bestiary. A Book of Beasts," 1954]
Its breath and glance were said to be fatal. The South American lizard so called (1813) because it, like the mythical beast, has a crest. Also used of a type of large cannon, throwing shot of 200 lb., from 1540s. - bolt (n.)
- Old English bolt "short, stout arrow with a heavy head;" also "crossbow for throwing bolts," from Proto-Germanic *bultas (cognates: Old Norse bolti, Danish bolt, Dutch bout, German Bolzen), perhaps from PIE root *bheld- "to knock, strike" (cognates: Lithuanian beldu "I knock," baldas "pole for striking").
Applied since Middle English to other short metal rods (especially those with knobbed ends). From the notion of an arrow's flight comes the lightning bolt (1530s). A bolt of canvas (c. 1400) was so called for its shape. Adverbial phrase bolt upright is from late 14c. - bombard (n.)
- early 15c., "catapult, military engine for throwing large stones," from Middle French bombarde "mortar, catapult" (14c.), from bombe (see bomb (n.)). The same word, from the same source, was used in English and French late 14c. in reference to the bass shawm, a bassoon-like musical instrument, preserving the "buzzing" sense in the Latin.
- cast (n.)
- mid-13c., "a throw, an act of throwing," from cast (v.). In early use especially of dice, hence figurative uses relating to fortune or fate. Meaning "that which is cast" is from c. 1550s. Meaning "dash or shade of color" is from c. 1600. The sense of "a throw" carried an idea of "the form the thing takes after it has been thrown," which led to widespread and varied meanings, such as "group of actors in a play" (1630s). OED finds 42 distinct noun meaning and 83 verbal ones, with many sub-definitions. Many of the figurative senses converged in a general meaning "sort, kind, style" (mid-17c.). A cast in the eye (early 14c.) preserves the older verbal sense of "warp, turn."
- caster (n.1)
- "person or thing that casts," late 14c. (also sometimes castor), agent noun from cast (v.). Meaning "pepper shaker, small perforated container" is from 1670s, on notion of "throwing."
- casting (n.)
- c. 1300, "a throwing; late 14c., "a metal casting, a product of a cast;" verbal noun from cast (v.). Theatrical sense is from 1814. Casting couch in the naughty-Hollywood sense is from 1948.
- catabolism (n.)
- 1876, katabolism, "destructive metabolism," from Greek katabole "a throwing down" (also "a foundation"), from kataballein "to throw down," from kata- "down" (see cata-) + ballein "to throw" (see ballistics). Barnhart says probably formed in English on the model of metabolism. Spelling Latinized from 1889.
- catapult (n.)
- 1570s, from Middle French catapulte and directly from Latin catapulta "war machine for throwing," from Greek katapeltes, from kata "against" (see cata-) + base of pallein "to toss, hurl" (see pulse (n.1)). As an airplane-launching device on an aircraft-carrier by 1927.
- cornhole (v.)
- synonymous with "do anal intercourse" by 1930s, apparently the reference is to a game played in the farming regions of the Ohio Valley in the U.S. from 19c., in which players take turns throwing a small bag full of feed corn at a raised platform with a hole in it; from corn (n.1) + hole (n.).
- cube (v.)
- 1580s in the mathematical sense; 1947 with meaning "cut in cubes," from cube (n.). The Greek verbal derivatives from the noun all referred to dice-throwing and gambling. Related: Cubed; cubing.
- dart (n.)
- early 14c., from Old French dart "throwing spear, arrow," from Proto-Germanic *darothuz cognates: Old English daroð, Old High German tart, Old Norse darraþr "dart"). Italian and Spanish dardo are said to be from Germanic by way of Old Provençal.
- defenestration (n.)
- 1620, "the action of throwing out of a window," from Latin fenestra "window" (see fenestration). A word invented for one incident: the "Defenestration of Prague," May 21, 1618, when two Catholic deputies to the Bohemian national assembly and a secretary were tossed out the window (into a moat) of the castle of Hradshin by Protestant radicals. It marked the start of the Thirty Years War. Some linguists link fenestra with Greek verb phainein "to show;" others see in it an Etruscan borrowing, based on the suffix -(s)tra, as in Latin loan-words aplustre "the carved stern of a ship with its ornaments," genista "the plant broom," lanista "trainer of gladiators." Related: Defenestrate (1915); defenestrated (1620).
- deject (v.)
- early 15c., "to throw or cast down," from Old French dejeter (12c.), from Latin deiectus "a throwing down, felling, fall," past participle of deicere "to cast down, destroy; drive out; kill, slay, defeat," from de- "down" + -icere, comb. form of iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). Originally literal; the sense of "depress in spirit" is c. 1500.
- drench (v.)
- c. 1200, "to submerge, drown," from Old English drencan "give drink to, ply with drink, make drunk; soak, saturate; submerge, drown," causative of drincan "to drink" (see drink), from Proto-Germanic *drankijan (cognates: Old Norse drekkja, Swedish dränka, Dutch drenken, German tränken, Gothic dragkjan "to give to drink"). Sense of "to wet thoroughly by throwing liquid over" is from c. 1550. Related: Drenched; drenching.
- duck (n.1)
- waterfowl, Old English duce (found only in genitive ducan) "a duck," literally "a ducker," presumed to be from Old English *ducan "to duck, dive" (see duck (v.)). Replaced Old English ened as the name for the bird, this being from PIE *aneti-, the root of the "duck" noun in most Indo-European languages.
In the domestic state the females greatly exceed in number, hence duck serves at once as the name of the female and of the race, drake being a specific term of sex. [OED]
As a term of endearment, attested from 1580s. duck-walk is 1930s; duck soup "anything easily done" is by 1899. Duck's ass haircut is from 1951. Ducks-and-drakes, skipping flat stones on water, is from 1580s; the figurative sense of "throwing something away recklessly" is c. 1600. - enclitic
- 1650s (adj.); 1660s (n.), in grammar, from Late Latin encliticus, from Greek enklitikos "throwing its accent back," literally "leaning on," from verbal adjectival stem of enklinein "to bend, lean on," from en "in" (see en- (2)) + klinein "to lean" (see lean (v.)).
- flummox (v.)
- 1837, cant word, also flummux, of uncertain origin, probably risen out of a British dialect (OED finds candidate words in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, southern Cheshire, and Sheffield). "The formation seems to be onomatopœic, expressive of the notion of throwing down roughly and untidily" [OED]. Related: Flummoxed; flummoxing.
- gantlet (n.)
- "military punishment in which offender runs between rows of men who beat him in passing," 1640s, gantlope, gantelope, from Swedish gatlopp "passageway," from Old Swedish gata "lane" (see gate (n.)) + lopp "course," related to löpa "to run" (see leap (v.)). Probably borrowed by English soldiers during Thirty Years' War.
By normal evolution the Modern English form would be *gatelope, but the current spelling (first attested 1660s, not fixed until mid-19c.) is from influence of gauntlet (n.1) "a glove," "there being some vague association with 'throwing down the gauntlet' in challenge" [Century Dictionary]. - glass (adj.)
- Old English glæs, from glass (v.). Middle English also had an adjective glazen, from Old English glæsen. The glass snake (1736, actually a limbless lizard) is so called for the fragility of its tail. The glass slipper in "Cinderella" perhaps is an error by Charles Perrault, translating in 1697, mistaking Old French voir "ermine, fur" for verre "glass." In other versions of the tale it is a fur slipper. The proverb about people in glass houses throwing stones is attested by 1779, but earlier forms go back to 17c.:
Who hath glass-windows of his own must take heed how he throws stones at his house. ... He that hath a body made of glass must not throw stones at another. [John Ray, "Handbook of Proverbs," 1670]
Glass-house is from late 14c. as "glass factory," 1838 as "greenhouse." - handball (n.)
- also hand-ball, mid-15c., "small ball, thrown or batted by hand," also the name of a game, from hand (n.) + ball (n.1). Originally a throwing and catching game popular before the use of bats or rackets. The modern sport of that name seems to be so called by 1885.
- high-roller (n.)
- "extravagant spender," by 1873, American English, probably originally a reference to a gambler throwing dice.
- humor (n.)
- mid-14c., "fluid or juice of an animal or plant," from Old North French humour (Old French humor; Modern French humeur), from Latin umor "body fluid" (also humor, by false association with humus "earth"); related to umere "be wet, moist," and to uvescere "become wet," from PIE *wegw- "wet."
In ancient and medieval physiology, "any of the four body fluids" (blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy or black bile) whose relative proportions were thought to determine state of mind. This led to a sense of "mood, temporary state of mind" (first recorded 1520s); the sense of "amusing quality, funniness" is first recorded 1680s, probably via sense of "whim, caprice" (1560s), which also produced the verb sense of "indulge," first attested 1580s. "The pronunciation of the initial h is only of recent date, and is sometimes omitted ...." [OED] For types of humor, see the useful table below, from H.W. Fowler ["Modern English Usage," 1926].
| device |
HUMOR |
WIT |
SATIRE |
SARCASM |
INVECTIVE |
IRONY |
CYNICISM |
SARDONIC |
| motive/aim |
discovery |
throwing light |
amendment |
inflicting pain |
discredit |
exclusiveness |
self-justification |
self-relief |
| province |
human nature |
words & ideas |
morals & manners |
faults & foibles |
misconduct |
statement of facts |
morals |
adversity |
| method/means |
observation |
surprise |
accentuation |
inversion |
direct statement |
mystification |
exposure of nakedness |
pessimism |
| audience |
the sympathetic |
the intelligent |
the self-satisfied |
victim & bystander |
the public |
an inner circle |
the respectable |
the self |
- hyperbola (n.)
- 1660s, from Latinized form of Greek hyperbole "extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond" (see hyperbole). Perhaps so called because the inclination of the plane to the base of the cone exceeds that of the side of the cone.
- hyperbole (n.)
- early 15c., from Latin hyperbole, from Greek hyperbole "exaggeration, extravagance," related to hyperballein "to throw over or beyond," from hyper- "beyond" + bole "a throwing, a casting, the stroke of a missile, bolt, beam," from bol-, nominative stem of ballein "to throw" (see ballistics). Rhetorical sense is found in Aristotle and Isocrates.
- hyperbolic (adj.)
- 1640s (iperbolical is from early 15c.), from Greek hyperbolikos "extravagant," from hyperbole "extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond" (see hyperbole). Geometric sense is from 1670s. Related: Hyperbolically.
- inject (v.)
- c. 1600, from Latin iniectus "a casting on, throwing over," past participle of inicere "to throw in or on," from in- "in" (see in- (2)) + -icere, comb. form of iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). Related: Injectable; injected; injecting.
- interjection (n.)
- early 15c., from Middle French interjection (Old French interjeccion, 13c.), from Latin interiectionem (nominative interiectio) "a throwing or placing between," noun of action from past participle stem of intericere, from inter- "between" (see inter-) + -icere, comb. form of iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)).
- jetsam (n.)
- 1560s, jottsome "act of throwing goods overboard to lighten a ship," alteration and contraction of Middle English jetteson, from Anglo-French getteson, Old French getaison "a throwing" (see jettison). Intermediate forms were jetson, jetsome; the form perhaps was deformed by influence of flotsam. From 1590s as "goods thrown overboard;" figurative use by 1861. For distinction of meaning, see flotsam.
- jettison (v.)
- 1848, from jettison (n.) "act of throwing overboard" to lighten a ship. This noun was an 18c. Marine Insurance writers' restoration of the earlier form and original sense of the 15c. word that had become jetsam, probably because jetsam had taken on a sense of "things cast overboard" and an unambiguous word was needed for "act of throwing overboard."
Middle English jetteson (n.) "act of throwing overboard" is from Anglo-French getteson, from Old French getaison "act of throwing (goods overboard)," especially to lighten a ship in distress, from Late Latin iactionem (nominative iactatio) "act of throwing," noun of action from past participle stem of iectare "toss about" (see jet (v.)). Related: Jettisoned. - kaput (adj.)
- "finished, worn out, dead," 1895, from German kaputt "destroyed, ruined, lost" (1640s), which in this sense probably is a misunderstanding of the phrase capot machen, a partial translation of French faire capot, a phrase which meant "to win all the tricks (from the other player) in piquet," an obsolete card game. Literally "to make a bonnet;" perhaps the notion is throwing a hood over the other player, but faire capot also meant in French marine jargon "to overset in a squall when under sail." The word was popularized in English during World War I.
"Kaput" -- a slang word in common use which corresponds roughly to the English "done in," the French "fichu." Everything enemy was "kaput" in the early days of German victories. [F. Britten Austin, "According to Orders," New York, 1919]
French capot is literally "cover, bonnet," also the name of a type of greatcloak worn by sailors and soldiers (see capote). The card-playing sense attested in German only from 1690s, but capot in the (presumably) transferred sense of "destroyed, ruined, lost" is attested from 1640s. [see William Jervis Jones, "A Lexicon of French Borrowings in the German Vocabulary (1575-1648)," Berlin, de Gruyter, 1976]. In Hoyle and other English gaming sources, faire capot is "to win all the tricks," and a different phrase, être capot, "to be a bonnet," is sometimes cited as the term for losing them. The sense reversal in German might have come about because if someone wins all the tricks the other player has to lose them, and the same word capot, when it entered English from French in the mid-17c. meant "to score a cabot against; to win all the tricks from."
"There are others, says a third, that have played with my Lady Lurewell at picquet besides my lord; I have capotted her myself two or three times in an evening." [George Farquhar (1677-1707), "Sir Harry Wildair"]
- knuckleball (n.)
- also knuckle-ball, baseball pitch, by 1909, from knuckle (n.) + ball (n.1). So called from the position of the fingers in throwing it. Related: Knuckleballer.