bull
.
Searchable Lemmata: bulla (L), bullare (L), bul (OE), bulle (ME), bull (MdE).
Alternate Forms: ballationes, bula, bulan, bule, bullas, bullatus, bullis, bvlas.
Definitions and Defining Citations:
1a(n.) ;
in general, a rounded or spherical object: used to refer to studs (including decorative studs on garments or belts), shield bosses, buttons, etc.(ante 1100 - ante 1500)
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
1b(n.)
Jewellery;
a kind of jewellery or ornament. In some Old English sources, seen to be worn by women in the early eleventh century; possibly a brooch, but perhaps more likely similar to the Roman bulla, a globular amulet worn around the neck, or similar necklace.(ante 700 - ante 1100)
1. Torques sunt circuli aurei a collo ad pectus usque pendentes. Torques autem et bullae a viris geruntur; feminis vero monilia et catella. Dictae autem torques quod sint tortae, et bullae quod similes sint rotunditate bullis quae in aqua vento inflantur.
[DOE ISID. Etym. (19,31,11)]
4. Pulchra est gena tua amica mea sicut turturis collum tuum sicut monilia murenulas aureas faciemus tibi uermiculatas argento feger is levr hagospind ðin mego min svæ tvrtvres svire ðin svælce svirbeg bvlas gyldenno gidoe ve ðe giberbedo svlfere.
[DOE DurRitGl 1 (Thomp-Lind) (0022 (4.1))]
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
2(vb.)
Decoration;
as a verb: to furnish with ornamental studs or knops.(circa 1483)
Sex: N/A Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
Etymological Evidence:
Definite, Latin bulla (cognate with English ball) 'swelling thing, spherical or rounded thing', referring to knobs, studs, etc. Also specifically the bulla, a globular golden amulet worn on the neck (cf. present citation from Isidore), originally a Roman imitation of Etruscan practice.
From the Middle English period onwards, the word normally refers to a leaden globular attachment to a seal on a document, especially to seals on papal documents or edicts (and then more loosely for papal edicts generally). This sense < French, and also in British Latin from the thirteenth century. Old English sigel (q.v., < Latin sigillum) is normally taken to refer to an ornament or piece of jewellery (cf. OHG sigilla, sigele 'necklace'), rather than a 'seal' (as of a document), for which the word insigel seems to have been used in Old English. However, at least one OE gloss equates Latin bulla with insigel, suggesting that the 'seal' meaning of bull was known in Anglo-Saxon England: AntGl 2 (Kindschi) 0739 (736): "Sigillum ɫ bulla: insegel". See also discussion at sigel.
WF: Borrowed into the British Isles
Etym Cog:
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