Q The recent presidential election has me wondering about the word “ballot.” I figure it can’t be a very old word, since voting for one’s leader is, historically speaking, a relatively recent development (isn’t it?). Can you tell me about its origins? – E.S., Crawford, Ga.

A: You might be surprised to learn that the earliest evidence in English for “ballot” dates all the way back to 1549. “Ballot” derives ultimately from a word of Germanic origin meaning “ball.”

Small balls, variously marked or colored, have been used as a means for casting a secret vote since ancient times. For example, in ancient Greece balls were used in the determination of criminal matters. Jurors voted with one kind of ball for acquittal and with another for condemnation. Even today, some private clubs accept or reject candidates for membership on the basis of a vote taken with white and black balls, hence our word “blackball.”

In Renaissance Venice, which was actually a republic and had been one since the 11th century, this same kind of secret vote was used. A Venetian, being Italian, called the ball he voted with a “ballotta,” or “little ball.” “Ballotta” is the diminutive of the Italian “balla,” or “ball,” a word that is ultimately Germanic in origin. The English borrowed Italian “ballotta” and shortened it to “ballot,” using it to designate a ball or any other object, such as a ticket or piece of paper, used in casting a secret vote.

Q Could you please tell me what it means to “ball the jack”? I’ve heard it used in a couple of songs. Does it have anything to do with truck driving? Where did the phrase originate? – D.F., Lakeview, Ore.

A: We are certain that many a trucker does “ball the jack” down the highway, for the phrase means simply “to go fast.” Although one source claims it derives from an identical logging expression, its probable origin is from railroad terminology, in which the expression means “to gain speed.”

“Ball” is probably a shortened version of “highball,” which is the railroad term for a signal to the engineer that he may proceed at full speed, and is also used for a fast train. The term “highball” developed from an early railroad practice in which the go-ahead signal given to an engineer was the raising of a metal ball to the top of a pole. The verb “highball,” meaning “to go at full speed,” also developed from this practice.

“Jack” is railroad slang for “locomotive.” The origin of this term is uncertain, but it may be related to other kinds of machinery that are called “jacks” or that have names in which another word is combined with “jack,” such as “jackshaft.” To a railroader, then, “ball the jack” means “to bring a locomotive to full speed.”

The expression also caught on outside of railroading circles, and is used generically to mean “to move fast” or “to hurry.” It is certainly used in connection with truckers, but it can also describe a person moving at high speed. For example, we have in our file this description of the sluggishness of a Missouri farm worker: “As one farmer unfortunate enough to depend on Ed’s exertions during the haying season summed it up, “Ol’ Ed ain’t much for ballin’ the jack, but he wouldn’t be a bad worker, only he gets kinda fidgety in the middle of the week lookin’ for Sunday to sneak up on him in both directions.”‘

Q It’s generally believed that the word “Nazi” is an acronym for “National Socialist.” But I remember reading many years ago the obituary of a Bavarian wit and writer – apparently a kind of Art Buchwald of his time – who was said to have dubbed the fledgling National Socialist Party “Nazis” when the party first appeared in the 1920s, “Nazi” being a Bavarian slang word meaning “jerk” or “buffoon.” The party itself used the acronym “Naso,” so “Nazi” was apparently some kind of Bavarian pun. Can you confirm this story? – O.V., Trenton, N.J.

A: The writer whose obituary you read was undoubtedly Konrad Heiden, a German-born biographer of Hitler, author of “Der Fuehrer: Hitler’s Rise to Power” (1944) and other books. Heiden may not have been the Art Buchwald of his time, but he was a serious and widely read opponent of Nazism for many year. We are aware of his claim to have coined “Nazi” in the 1920s, but we have seen no evidence that substantiates his story.

The earliest recorded example of “Nazi” is from 1930. The acronymic explanation of its origin, which traces it to the “Na” and “zi” of the German word “Nationalsozialist,” is now recognized as incorrect. The true origin of “Nazi” appears to be as a shortening and respelling of the longer word, based on the German pronunciation of “Nati-,” in which the “t” is pronounced like “ts.”

Our files contain a letter dated 1932 from the German Embassy in Washington confirming this derivation, and it is simple and plausible enough to have now won general acceptance as correct.

This column was prepared by the editors of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Readers may send questions to Merriam-Webster’s Wordwatch, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, MA 01102.

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