Of or relating to ballast; relating to ballistae or ancient siege weapons that used projectiles.
From 'ballast' plus '-ic' suffix, or separately from 'ballista' (ancient catapult) plus '-ic.' The two meanings have different roots but similar spelling, leading to occasional confusion in historical texts.
The confusion between 'ballistic' (projectiles) and 'ballastic' (relating to ballast) shows how English homophones reveal the complex historical layers of maritime and military vocabulary meeting.
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