bolla

Forms

bolla f (plural bolle)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin bŭlla (“bubble”), an expressive word that suggests roundness.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word is pan-Romance except in Romanian:^[5] French boule (“ball”) (the source of bullone), Occitan bola, Catalan bola, Spanish bola and Portuguese bola.^[3][6] Dante also uses, in rhyme, the Latinizing form Old Italian bulla.^[2][7]

The Latin word looks imitative, but Nocentini sees an Indo-European onomatopoeia behind it, comparing Ancient Greek βολβός (bolbós, “bulb”) and Lithuanian burbulas (“water bubble”).^[3] Wiktionary calls its origin uncertain, perhaps through Gaulish from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to swell”) or from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, to swell”).^[1]

The sense “seal” grew out of “bubble” in Latin itself.^[2][8] Already in classical and Silver Latin the word meant any round boss or stud, and in particular the gold or leather amulet that young Roman patricians wore round the neck; from the 6th century it named the similar lead seal hung from deeds and letters, mostly in church use, and then the sealed document itself.^[2][3][8] GRADIT takes this sense from bulla of Medieval Latin, recorded in Italy in the 9th century in Agnello Ravennate.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto (1274), where DELI finds the sense unclear.^[7][2][3] The sense “bubble” is certain in Dante (1300–1313): le bolle che 'l bollor levava (“the bubbles that the boiling raised”).^[2][9][10]

Semantic evolution

In medicine bolla “blister” appears in Cavalca (before 1342).^[2] The line of the seal developed fast: a hanging metal seal with an image on each face (before 1304, the Italian Plutarch), a papal or episcopal letter bearing it (before 1348, Villani), and a receipt for goods delivered or dues paid (1387, statutes of Ascoli Piceno).^[2] The Bolla d'oro of 1356 is the Golden Bull of Charles IV.^[11] The diminutive bolletta “receipt” is recorded from 1325, and bollettino later became the word for a bulletin.^[2] The phrase essere in bolletta “to be broke” comes from Venice, from the ticket for an object pawned at the Monte di Pietà according to Nocentini,^[3] or from the medieval custom of posting public lists of bankrupts according to the LEI.^[8] In thieves' cant bolla meant “city” from the 15th century.^[12]

Modern technical senses are a bubble in glass or cast metal (1925) and a glass bulb in chemical apparatus (1965).^[2] Bolla di sapone is a soap bubble and figuratively something that comes to nothing, and the financial bolla speculativa is modelled on English South Sea Bubble, the crash of 1720.^[13]

Timeline

• 9th century – Medieval Latin bulla “seal” in Agnello Ravennate.^[2]
• 1274 – First record, in Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto.^[7][3]
• Before 1304 – “Hanging metal seal”, in the Italian Plutarch.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses bolla “bubble”.^[2]
• 1325 – Bolletta “receipt”, in the statute of the Parte Guelfa of Florence.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses bolla “blister”.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Villani uses the word for a papal letter.^[2]
• 1387 – “Receipt for goods”, in the statutes of Ascoli Piceno.^[2]
• 1925 – “Bubble in glass or metal” in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bubble of gas or vapour in a liquid;^[4][14][13] bolla di sapone, a soap bubble, and figuratively something short-lived that comes to nothing.^[4][14][13]
2. A pocket of air in a solid material such as glass or metal, a casting flaw.^[4][14][13]
3. A swelling on a surface, as on badly hung wallpaper or in a faulty fabric.^[4][15]
4. (medicine) A blister on the skin.^[4][13][16]
5. (botany) leaf curl, a fungal disease of peach and almond trees; also mal della bolla.^[11][15][13]
6. (finance) A speculative boom in prices with no basis in real value, bolla speculativa.^[13][17][15]
7. A spirit level (livella); in bolla, perfectly level.^[4][13][15]
8. (history) A seal of metal or wax used to authenticate official documents.^[4][15][16]
9. A document authenticated with such a seal, especially a papal bull (bolla papale).^[4][14][16]
10. (commerce) A delivery note proving that goods were shipped or delivered (bolla di accompagnamento).^[4][14][15]
11. (archaic) A boss or stud.^[14][16][15]

Word family

• bolletta
• bollettino
• bollettario
• bollario
• bollare
• bollato
• bollo
• bollino
• bulletta
• bollicina
• bolloso

Related words

• bollire
• bullone
• Latin bulla
• French boule

Usage notes

The noun bollo “stamp” is a 16th-century derivative of bollare, itself from Medieval Latin bullare “to seal”.^[3] The diminutive is bollicina.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 553
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 158
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli