where did word "ballistic/ballista" originate from? [closed]

From EtymOnline, "ballistic":

"pertaining to construction and use of thrown objects," ultimately from Greek ballein "to throw"

A ballista could use stone (ball) projectiles, but also fired bolts like a crossbow. The "ball" in "ballistic" and "ball" as in a round object are only homonyms - they sound the same and are spelled the same but ultimately have nothing to do with each other, as "ball" is believed to come from a Germanic source.

Given that the plural form of ballista is ballistae, I have a strong felling that the word comes from Latin and is formed this way:

ballista = stem ball + suffix -ista

And in Latin, stem ball comes from Greek and has the meaning of throwing, while -ista means "one who exercises or practices something" (1st declension, matching the plural nominative of -istae). So ballista literally means one who throws, not any balls.

so the -ball- part in ballista doesn't really have anything to do with ball despite looking simila, as said in Alan T's answer.

Side note: ballistae fire more arrows than stone balls, or i.e. more "long and thin" projectiles than "round and big" objects.

In Ancient Greek, ball-ein means "to throw". The ending -ist-ēs is just like "-ist" in English, meaning someone who does something. So a ball-ist-ēs is someone (or in this case something) that throws: it launches wooden or metal bolts, with a mechanism that looks a bit like a crossbow's. In Latin, the -ēs ending was replaced with -a, giving "ballista".

Similarly, in Ancient Greek, the ending -ic-os means "pertaining to". So something that's ball-ist-ic-os is "pertaining to throwing things", or acting like something shot out of a ballista.

"Ball" in English is a complete coincidence; it comes from a different Proto-Indo-European root. The cognate of "ball" in Latin is actually foll-is "airbag", which much later became English "fool".

The adjective "ballistic" describes the flight of an object through space. It usually applies to projectiles like bullets or rockets that are fired from weapons.

the word comes from weapon "BALLISTA", which chucked rocks into the air,

whose name comes from the Greek for "throw."

If someone has “gone ballistic,” they're crazy with anger. When you go ballistic, you’re just like an unmanned missile: you fly into a fit of rage and lose control over your feelings or actions.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/2017/05/23/scotland_roman/02_Scotland_Roman.adapt.885.1.jpg