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bulino

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word bulino

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1427 as burino, San Bernardino More words from the 15th century
Borrowed from
Lombardic *boro
Ultimate origin
Lombardic *boro

Pronunciation

Forms

bulino m (plural bulini)[1] Older forms are burino (1427) and bolino, used by Cellini.[2][3][4] Nocentini also lists bollino and bullino.[3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[5][6][1] DELI, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli give it, with a question mark, as borrowed from Lombardic *boro (“gimlet”), on the strength of the earlier variant burino and of French burin (1420), which DELI takes to be borrowed from the Italian word.[2][7][8][9] The Lombardic word would belong to the family of German bohren (“to bore”).[3] Prati doubted the Lombardic source, since *boro did not give the word, and bor (“stopper”) of Brescia comes from it.[4]

Nocentini rejects the Germanic etymology, following Montuori: a change of /r/ to /l/ is harder to explain than the reverse, the forms with /l/ (bulino, bolino, bollino, bullino) are far commoner than burino, and the oldest record is bolino in a Latin document from Rome of 1295.[3] He derives it instead from bolla (“seal, stamp”), as a tool for impressing a mark.[3] He leaves open how the Italian word relates to burin, Catalan burí, Spanish buril and Portuguese buril, all with /r/.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is burino in San Bernardino of Siena, in 1427.[2][7] Vasari, in 1550, describes the tool: a square iron cut slantwise from one corner to the other, which makes it sharp on two sides.[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Cellini still had to explain the name: he began to turn the bulino, “for so that little iron with which one engraves was called by name”.[10] From the tool the word passed to the art of engraving (l'arte del bulino, un maestro del bulino) and to the engraver himself, who was called a bulino as early as Baldinucci.[7][11][4] The verb bulinare, to engrave with a burin, is recorded from Redi, before 1698.[2]

In engineering the word names a small chisel for cutting grooves and removing burrs, and in prehistory a flint blade of the Upper Palaeolithic.[7][8][11] The French astronomer Lacaille named a southern constellation after the tool, Coelum scalptorium, called Bulino in Italian.[10]

Timeline

  • 1295 – Bolino appears in a Latin document from Rome.[3]
  • 1420 – French burin is first recorded.[2][7]
  • 1427 – San Bernardino uses burino.[2]
  • 1550 – Vasari describes the bulino in his Vite.[2]
  • Before 1698 – Redi uses the verb bulinare.[2]
  • 1865 – Bulinatura appears in Tommaseo's dictionary.[2]
  • 1955 – Bulinatore is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A burin, graver: a pointed steel bar with a wooden handle, used to engrave metals, leather or hides by hand.[7][8][5]
  2. The art of engraving with it: l'arte del bulino.[7][8][11]
  3. An engraver who works with a burin.[7][11][12]
  4. (mechanics) A small chisel for cutting grooves in metal and removing burrs.[7][8][11]
  5. (archaeology) A flint tool with a chisel edge, typical of the Upper Palaeolithic.[7][8][11]
  6. (figurative) A refined, painstaking style: un romanzo lavorato col bulino.[12]

Word family

  • bulinare
  • bulinatore
  • bulinatura
  • bulinista

Usage notes

GRADIT has two other words spelled bulino, both technical and of the 20th century.[7] One is a freshwater snail of the genus Bulinus, from scientific Latin, probably from Latin bulla “bubble”, which carries the parasite of urinary schistosomiasis.[7][11] The other is only in nodo bulino, the bowline knot, from French bouline (compare bolina).[7]

Bulino is also the first person singular present of bulinare, “to engrave with a burin”.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 191
  5. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  12. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Bulino.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/bulino. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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