An Italian or Spanish term for a ball or dance, or a voting ball used in medieval politics.
From Italian 'ballo' and Spanish 'baile' (ball, dance), derived from Late Latin 'ballare' (to dance). Also related to the Venetian voting system using colored balls.
The voting balls used in Venice called 'ballots' literally gave us our word 'ballot'—dropping a colored ball was how democracy worked before paper!
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