Colfball
/ˈkɒlf.bɔːl/noun
A ball used in the historical game of colf, a Dutch precursor of golf.
Did you know?Colf was played in the Netherlands centuries before modern golf developed, and historical records describe shots that could travel dangerously long distances across frozen landscapes and towns.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
Germanic
*kulbōn
“A heavy club or rounded striking object; the proposed ancestor of later Germanic forms.”
Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch
colf
“A club used to strike a ball, and by extension the club-and-ball game played with it.”
16th Century
Dutch
kolfbal
“A ball used in the Dutch game of kolf.”
16th–17th Century
English
colf ball
“A ball associated with the Dutch game of colf; the spaced English compound.”
Modern English
English
colfball
“A historical term for a ball used in colf, now chiefly encountered in specialist or historical writing.”