ONlwSG

ballan m. [ˈb̥ɑɫ̪an], gen. ballain -[æɲ], [ɛɲ]. McDonald (2009, 343–44) derives SG ballan, bolla and bulla, all in the senses ‘churn, mug, cup, vessel, tub’, from ON bolli m. ‘bowl; a liquid measure’ (NO). This follows Pokorny (1959, 121), who suggests EG ballán is probably from Old Norse; 

De Vries (1962) is similarly circumspect.

Stokes (1894, 163), who suggests Ir. ballán may be a Germanic loan-word; 

So MacBain (1911, s.v. ballan) and Henderson (1910, 119, 205).

and Craigie (1894, 158), who tentatively suggests SG bolla and bulla derive from ON bolli or oblique bolla. Vendryes (1996), on the other hand, argues that EG ballán goes back to the Celtic root *bhel- and is therefore related to EG ball m. ‘penis etc.’, Ir. [and SG] ballach ‘round; spotted’ and W balleg ‘bag, purse, basket’.

For SG ballan, MacLennan (1925) merely cites EG ballán and the Celtic stem form *ballano-.

The 9th-century Sanas Cormaic etymologises EG ballán as (Early Irish Glossaries Database^˄, s.v. ballán YAdd. 185) ian mbille .i. lobair lit. ‘the wooden drinking vessel (ían) of a person of unsound mind (bill), i.e. leper (loḃur)’, and (YAdd. 167) bill-ian .i. lestar ḟir t[h]ruaig ... lit. ‘the bill-ían, i.e. the vessel (lestar) of a wretched (truaġ) man ...’, but this can be dismissed on phonetic grounds.

SG bulla has the senses ‘bowl; ball (Shaw 1780; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828); bubble (Armstrong); and papal bull (HSS)’, while SG bolla or bolladh has the senses ‘bowl, goblet; boll (a dry measure); and bladder float for fishing net or anchor (Shaw; Armstrong; HSS)’. The sense ‘bowl or goblet’ may derive via EG bulla ‘bowl’ from OEng. bolla ‘bowl’ (eDIL^˄), while the sense ‘boll, a dry measure’ presumably comes from Scots boll, bow [bɔl, bʌu] ‘idem’, itself probably also from OEng. bolla ‘bowl’ (SND^˄).

Scots boll is distinct from Scots †bull(e) ‘a liquid measure’, itself from ON bolli m. (Jakobsen 1928 (so also de Vries 1962, 49); SND^˄).

The sense ‘papal bull’ derives via EG bulla from Lat. bulla (eDIL^˄), originally with reference to the seal attached to such documents, while the senses ‘ball’, ‘bubble’ and ‘float’ may all originate in OScots ¹boull, bowl 

Also boul(e), bowll, bouell, bowall, booll, bulle, bwill (DOST^˄).

‘one of the balls in the game of bowls; a ball or globe’, cf. Eng. bowl ‘ball’ (< MEng. boul(e), bowl, < OFr. boule) (DOST^˄).

According to Dwelly (1911), SG ballan has the senses ‘shell; covering; bucket; tub; any wooden vessel; teat; cupping-glass; churn; broom; balsam; tub, trough, vat; and udder’, but its main senses go back to EG ballán ‘type of drinking vessel (possibly round); vessel for holding drink’ (eDIL^˄, cf. Ir. ballán ‘teat; cup-shaped drinking vessel; (rock with) cup-shaped hole’ (Ó Dónaill 1977)).

SND^˄, s.v., describes the origin of Scots balden ‘washing-tub’ as obscure, but the word is associated with SG ballan by Armstrong (1825, s.v. ballan). SND^˄, s.v., suggests that Scots baller for barrel, if not the result of metathesis, may have arisen under the influence of SG ballan.

Phonetically, an oblique ON bolla might easily yield EG ballán with o ~ a alternation (cf. SG Tormod [ˈt̪ʰaɾ͡amɔd̪̥] < ON Þormund acc. m.), with the addition of the native diminutive suffix -án; semantically, both bolli and ballán primarily indicate ‘a container for holding liquid’.