Etymograph

English

hyperbola

Hyperbola comes from Ancient Greek ὑπερβολή ‘overshooting’, from βάλλω ‘to throw, cast, hurl’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-1‘to hit by throwing’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷl̥-ne-h₁-1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*gʷəlnō1reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβάλλω2‘to throw, cast, hurl’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὑπερβάλλω3huperbállō‘to throw over or beyond (a mark), to overshoot’
  6. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὑπερβολή3huperbolḗ‘overshooting’
  7. New Latinc. 1500–1900hyperbola3
  8. Englishtodayhyperbola3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek βάλλω
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ὑπερβάλλω
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English hyperbola

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek βάλλω‘to hit by throwing’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷl̥-ne-h₁-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek βάλλωreconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*gʷəlnōWiktionary, Ancient Greek βάλλωreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβάλλωWiktionary, Ancient Greek ὑπερβάλλω‘to throw, cast, hurl’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὑπερβάλλωWiktionary, English hyperbolahuperbállō‘to throw over or beyond (a mark), to overshoot’
  6. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὑπερβολήWiktionary, English hyperbolahuperbolḗ‘overshooting’
  7. New Latinc. 1500–1900hyperbolaWiktionary, English hyperbola
  8. EnglishtodayhyperbolaWiktionary, English hyperbola

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- ‘to hit by throwing’

ball, quail, quill, quell, obelisk, pul, 65 more

through Proto-Hellenic *gʷəlnō

symbolic, ballistic, ballista, symbolist, 36 more

through Ancient Greek βάλλω ‘to throw, cast, hurl’

problem, devil, symbol, emblem, metabolic, parable, parabolic, embolism, anabolic, metabolize, 35 more

Today it means

noun A conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane that intersects the base of the cone and is not tangent to the cone. The function y(x) = 1/x draws a hyperbola.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hyperbola”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek βάλλω, Ancient Greek ὑπερβάλλω. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- / hyperbola

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