Etymologically
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bulk

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bʌlk/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English bolke, bulke, borrowed from Old Norse búlki (“a heap; ship's cargo”),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, swell”).[3] The sense “size, volume” arose from confusion with obsolete bouk, belly, from Old English būc (“belly, body”).[3][6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cargo of a ship: before 1350 in Barnhart, the mid-14th century in Etymonline;[2][3] a heap, as of fish for salting, about 1440.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The belly or trunk of the body is from about 1460 and obsolete;[7] size or volume is from the mid-15th century (about 1454).[3][2] In bulk, loaded loose, is from the 1670s,[3][7] and the greater part of anything by 1711.[3] The verb, to swell, is from 1540, usually bulk up or out.[2][3] A separate bulk, a framework projecting from a shop front, a stall, is from the mid-16th century, from Old Norse bálkr.[5][4]

Timeline

  • before 1350 – a ship's cargo.[2]
  • c. 1440 – a heap.[7]
  • c. 1454 – size, volume.[2]
  • 1540 – to swell (verb).[2]
  • 1670s – in bulk.[3]
  • 1711 – the greater part.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Great size, mass or volume.
  2. A large body, especially a heavy human one.
  3. (the bulk) The main or greater part of something.
  4. (in bulk) In large quantities, or loose and not packaged.
  5. Roughage in food.

Verb

  1. (bulk up) To become or make bigger or heavier.

Adjective

  1. Large in quantity: bulk buying.

Word family

  • break-bulk
  • outbulk
  • bulk carrier
  • bulker
  • bulkhead
  • bulky
  • bulk up
  • bouk
  • balk
  • bulge

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press