football

Football probably doesn't come from ‘foot’ kicking ‘ball.’ The name likely means a sport played on foot (as opposed to on horseback). In the late Middle Ages, ‘football’ referred to any game played by pedestrians—common people, not nobility on horseback. King Henry IV mentioned it in 1409 as something worth prohibiting, which tells you it was popular enough to worry about.

The modern game got codified in 1863 when the English Football Association established rules for soccer (as Americans call it). But ‘football’ remained the global term for that sport. American football evolved from rugby, which itself came from football. In 1876, when American colleges codified the rugby-style game with a ball you carry in your hands, they called it ‘football’ anyway. The word survived three different games across 600 years—which is why the same word means completely different things depending on where you're standing. See more at etymonline.