bulki

Forms

bulki m (genitive bulka) (weak n-stem)^[1] Zoëga and Cleasby–Vigfússon head it búlki, with a long vowel.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is not settled: de Vries compares bolr (“trunk, body”).^[4] Torp sets it in ablaut with balkr (“partition”) and bjalki (“beam”), and with Old English bolca (“gangway plank”),^[5] which Holthausen joins to the same family.^[6] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon also relates it to the same word and to the beam and trunk words,^[7] while Gersum calls its further etymology obscure.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's first dated record is ÓHLeg, the legendary Óláfs saga helga, of 1237: Tækr (hann) tiolld gra oc lætr bræiða ivir bulcann stamna milli “he takes grey awnings and has them spread over the cargo from stem to stern”.^[9] Menota dates the manuscript, DG 8 II, to 1225–1250.^[10] The Konungsbók of Grágás of 1250 already uses it in law: Ef feet er i búlca “if the goods are in the cargo”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The bulki was the cargo stowed and lashed amidships, so that men stood fyrir framan or aptan búlka, before or behind it.^[3][11] The phrases binda bulka “to lash the cargo” before sailing and rjúfa or brjóta bulka “to break bulk” on landing are frequent, and brjóta bulka undir mǫnnum is used of vikings breaking into others' cargo.^[9][11] It is above all a word of the laws, with the family sagas next.^[9] In poetry bulka skíð “ski of the cargo” is a ship.^[12]

In Icelandic búlki is a heap of goods on deck.^[7] Middle English bulk “hold of a ship” comes from the Norse word,^[8] and English bulk first meant a ship's cargo.^[13]

Timeline

• 1225–1250 – bulcann in ÓHLeg, in DG 8 II.^[10][9]
• 1250 – i búlca in the Konungsbók of Grágás.^[9]
• 1250 – binda bulka in the Bjarkey law.^[9]
• 1320–1350 – bulkanum in Njáls saga in AM 132 fol.^[14]
• Mid-14th century – English bulk “ship's cargo”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. the cargo of a ship, stowed and lashed amidships.^[9][2][15]

Word family

• bulkabrún
• bulkastokkr

Descendants

• Icelandic búlki^[7]
• Norwegian Nynorsk bulk^[7]
• Middle English bulk (→ English bulk)^[8][13]

Related words

• bolr
• balkr
• bjalki

Usage notes

Mostly in the laws and in sea-going passages of the sagas.^[9]

References

1. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. bulki
2. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. búlki
3. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 89
4. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 64
5. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 267
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 30
7. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. búlki
8. ^ a b c Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org, p. s.v. bulk
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. bulki
10. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 8 II
11. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. bulki
12. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 70
13. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
15. ^ A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law, Digital Humanities Institute, University of Sheffield, p. s.v. bulki