the word "volley" entered english in the late 16th century from the middle french "volee," meaning "a flight" or "a volley." the french term derived from the feminine past participle of "voler," meaning "to fly," which itself originates from the latin "volare." the core semantic link is the concept of objects moving through the air together. this logic explains its evolution from describing a flight of birds to a simultaneous discharge of missiles. in the 19th century, this aerial metaphor was naturally extended to sports, describing a ball struck in mid-air before it lands.

this word is considered unsegmentable into meaningful morphemes within modern english spelling. it entered english as a complete lexical unit from french.