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Origin and history of bulge

bulge(n.)

c. 1200, "a wallet, leather bag," from Old French bouge, boulge "wallet, pouch, leather bag," or directly from Latin bulga "leather sack," from PIE *bhelgh- "to swell," extended form of root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell." Transferred sense of "a swelling, a rounded protuberance" is recorded by 1620s. Bilge (q.v.) might be a nautical variant. The meaning "bulging part of a military front" is from 1916, hence the World War II Battle of the Bulge (1944).

also from c. 1200

bulge(v.)

"to protrude, swell out," 1670s, from bulge (n.). Related: Bulged; bulging.

also from 1670s

Entries linking to bulge

bilge(n.)

1510s, "lowest internal part of a ship," also used of the foulness which collects there; variant of bulge "ship's hull," also "leather bag," from Old North French boulge "leather sack," from Late Latin bulga "leather sack," apparently from Gaulish bulga (see bulge (n.), and compare budget (n.)).

bug(v.1)

"to bulge, protrude," 1872, originally of eyes, perhaps from a humorous or dialect mispronunciation of bulge (v.). Related: Bugged; bugging. As an adjective, bug-eyed is recorded from 1872; it was so frequently used of space creatures in mid-20c. science fiction that the initialism (acronym) BEM for bug-eyed monster was current by 1953.

*bhel-(2)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to blow, swell," "with derivatives referring to various round objects and to the notion of tumescent masculinity" [Watkins].

It might form all or part of: bale (n.) "large bundle or package of merchandise prepared for transportation;" baleen; ball (n.1) "round object, compact spherical body;" balloon; ballot; bawd; bold; bole; boll; bollocks; bollix; boulder; boulevard; bowl (n.) "round pot or cup;" bulk; bull (n.1) "bovine male animal;" bullock; bulwark; follicle; folly; fool; foosball; full (v.) "to tread or beat cloth to cleanse or thicken it;" ithyphallic; pall-mall; phallus.

It might also be the source of: Greek phyllon "leaf," phallos "swollen penis;" Latin flos "flower," florere "to blossom, flourish," folium "leaf;" Old Prussian balsinis "cushion;" Old Norse belgr "bag, bellows;" Old English bolla "pot, cup, bowl;" Old Irish bolgaim "I swell," blath "blossom, flower," bolach "pimple," bolg "bag;" Breton bolc'h "flax pod;" Serbian buljiti "to stare, be bug-eyed;" Serbo-Croatian blazina "pillow."

An extended form of the root, *bhelgh- "to swell," forms all or part of: bellows; belly; bilge; billow; bolster; budget; bulge; Excalibur; Firbolgs.

An extended form of the root, *bhleu- "to swell, well up, overflow," forms all or part of: affluent; bloat; confluence; effluent; effluvium; efflux; fluctuate; fluent; fluid; flume; fluor; fluorescence; fluoride; fluoro-; flush (v.1) "spurt, rush out suddenly, flow with force;" fluvial; flux; influence; influenza; influx; mellifluous; phloem; reflux; superfluous.

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Trends of bulge

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

bag

"small sack," c. 1200, bagge, probably from Old Norse baggi "pack, bundle," or a similar Scandinavian source. OED rejects connection to other Germanic words for "bellows, belly" as without evidence and finds a Celtic origin untenable. In some senses perhaps from Old French bague,

bulk

mid-15c., "a heap; the volume or bulk of something," earlier "ship's cargo" (mid-14c.), from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse bulki "a heap; ship's cargo," from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell." The meaning was extended by early confusion wit

pouch

early 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), pouche, "bag worn on one's person for carrying things," especially (late 14c.) "small bag in which money is carried," from Anglo-French puche, Old North French pouche (13c.), Old French poche "purse, poke," all from a Germanic source (compare

strut

English strouten "display one's clothes proudly, vainly flaunt fine attire" (late 14c.), earlier "to stick out, protrude, bulge..., swell," from Old English strutian "to stand out stiffly, swell or bulge out," from Proto-Germanic *strut- (source also...

protuberance

adjacent surface," from Late Latin protuberantem (nominative protuberans), present participle of protuberare "to swell, bulge...

bump

1560s, "to bulge out;" 1610s, "to strike heavily, cause to come into violent contact," perhaps from Scandinavian, probably...

dossier

Supposedly so called because the bundle bore a label on the back, or possibly from resemblance of the bulge in a mass of...

swell

Middle English swellen, from Old English swellan "grow in bulk, become bigger" (intransitive, past tense sweall, past participle swollen), from Proto-Germanic *swellanan, *swallejanan (source also of Old Saxon swellan, Old Norse svella, Old Frisian swella, Middle Dutch swellen, D

excrescence

early 15c., "action of growing out," from Latin excrescentia (plural) "abnormal growths," from excrescentem (nominative excrescens), present participle of excrescere "grow out, grow up," from ex "out" (see ex-) + crescere "to grow" (from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow"). Meaning "th

pop

"a hit with a smart, explosive sound," c. 1400, of imitative origin. Meaning "effervescent carbonated beverage" is from 1812. A new manufactory of a nectar, between soda-water and ginger-beer, and called pop, because 'pop goes the cork' when it is drawn. [Southey, letter, 1812]

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Dictionary entries near bulge

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