Ballet reached English from French, with Italian balletto and ballo further behind it. The Italian formation contains a diminutive ending. A short dance name travelled through a language of theatrical performance before becoming familiar in English.
ballet
A theatrical form of dance.
Ballet came from French.
How ballet reached English
oldest firstItalian
balletto
‘A small or short dance’
into French
French
ballet
‘A theatrical dance’
into English
English
ballet
‘The dance form’
The story of ballet
Related
The immediate borrowing language can differ from the one that supplied the earlier formation.