'ballyrag' (leading to 'ballyragging') originates from British/Irish English, probably a compound of the minced oath 'bally' (a euphemistic form of 'bloody') and 'rag' (to tease or mock).

'ballyrag' appears in late 19th to early 20th century English; formed by combining the colloquial intensifier 'bally' with 'rag' (an older English word meaning 'to mock or tease'), and it developed into the gerund/nominal form 'ballyragging'.

Initially it had a sense of 'teasing or roughly mocking,' but it came to be used more often to mean 'to scold or berate' in modern informal usage.