bumble

bumble¹ hum, buzz

Etymology

The word for humming or booming is inherited from Middle English bomblen, also bumblen, of imitative origin.^[2][3][4] The OED takes it as an element imitating a buzzing, humming or droning sound, as in boom and bum, with the suffix -le,^[5][6][7][8] and compares Latin bombilō (“to hum, to buzz”), the source of bombilate.^[5] Partridge calls it probably a frequentative of bum, to hum,^[9] and Dictionary.com a frequentative of bomben (“to boom, buzz”).^[10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes the noun for the insect as short for bumblebee,^[3] which is recorded from 1530; the OED derives the noun from the verb.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a bittern, to make its booming call: about 1395, in Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale, As a bitore bombleth in the myre.^{[2][5][11][12]}

Semantic evolution

The bittern's call was the first sense, and it is obsolete.^[5][2] The sense "to buzz, to hum", of a bee or fly, is recorded from 1689,^[5][3] and a Hampshire glossary gives the saying to bumble like a bee in a tar tub.^[13] From 1675 to 1781 the verb also meant to grumble at or take someone to task.^[5][6] The noun followed: a bumblebee from 1599, in Cutwode's Caltha Poetarum,^[5] with Merriam-Webster Unabridged giving 1637 for the dialect noun;^[3] a bittern in English regional speech from 1813;^[5][3] a buzzing noise from 1834;^[5] and a brightly coloured fly for angling from 1859.^[5] The 20th century added the sense "to speak in a rambling or indistinct way", recorded from 1911 and often with on.^[5][7]

Timeline

• c. 1395 – of a bittern, to boom (now obsolete).^[2][5]
• 1599 – noun, a bumblebee.^[5]
• 1675 – to grumble at, to blame (obsolete by 1781).^[5]
• 1689 – of a bee or fly, to buzz or hum.^[5]
• 1813 – noun, a bittern, in regional English.^[5]
• 1834 – noun, a buzzing or humming noise.^[5]
• 1911 – to speak in a rambling, indistinct way, bumble on.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a humming or buzzing sound, as a bee does: Wasps bumbled against the kitchen window.^[3][5][8]
2. To make a low, hollow sound; to rumble.^[3]
3. To talk in a rambling or indistinct way, often at tedious length: The speaker bumbled on for an hour.^[5][7]

Noun

1. (regional) A bumblebee.^[5][3]
2. (regional) A bittern.^[5][3]

bumble² blunder, stumble

Etymology tree of bumble²

inherited borrowed derived

English bungle

English bumble

Etymology

The word for blundering is apparently an expressive formation with the suffix -le, like stumble, bungle and jumble.^[5] The American Heritage Dictionary, Collins and Dictionary.com suggest a blend from English bungle + stumble,^[4][14][10] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged probably an alteration of bungle influenced by bumble¹.^[3] Etymonline calls it probably imitative,^[15] and Barnhart sees in it the booming or buzzing word applied disparagingly.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To blunder about, to flounder: 1533 in the OED, 1532 in Barnhart, in Thomas More's Confutation of Tyndale, where it scorns Tyndale's theological points.^[5][11][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense of clumsy or incompetent action has stayed central, now often with about or along.^[5][14] The noun, a muddle or jumble of things, is recorded from 1648.^[5][11][3] The transitive sense "to bungle a task" began in Scotland and northern England, first in Allan Ramsay about 1719,^[5] and Scots also used the noun for blundering efforts (1621), for a bungler (1789–1865) and, in Burns, for an idler (1786).^[5][3] The noun "a blunder, a bungled task" spread from northern and Scottish speech from 1823.^[5] The English Dialect Dictionary records the senses "to bungle, to stumble" from Scotland to Somerset.^[13]

Timeline

• 1533 – to blunder about, act clumsily.^[5][11]
• 1621 – noun, blundering efforts (Scottish, obsolete).^[5]
• 1648 – noun, a muddle or jumble.^[5][3]
• c. 1719 – to bungle a task (originally Scottish and northern).^[5]
• 1786 – noun, an idler (Scottish, obsolete).^[5]
• 1789 – noun, a bungler (Scottish, obsolete by 1865).^[5]
• 1823 – noun, a blunder, a bungled task.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To act or speak in a clumsy, muddled way; to blunder: He bumbled through the interview.^[3][14][5]
2. To move unsteadily; to stumble: The tourists bumbled along the quay.^[3][14]
3. To bungle or botch a task.^[5][3]

Noun

1. A jumble or muddle.^[3][5][6]
2. A blunder or botch.^[14][5]

Word family

• bumbler
• bumbling
• bumblingly
• bumbleheaded