English
bulk
Bulk comes from Old Norse búlki ‘the freight or the cargo of a ship’, from Proto-Germanic *bulkô ‘beam, pile, heap’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵ-‘beam, pile, prop’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bulkô‘beam, pile, heap’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350búlki‘the freight or the cargo of a ship’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bulk
- Englishearliest quotation 1587same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵ-‘beam, pile, prop’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bulkô‘beam, pile, heap’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350búlki‘the freight or the cargo of a ship’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bulk
- Englishearliest quotation 1587same form
Earliest quotation: 1587, George Turberville: “little Cupide stroue Within her bulke, because that she…”
The story
Conflated with Middle English bouk (‘belly, trunk’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- ‘beam, pile, prop’
block, balcony, plank, phalanx, fulcrum, balk, phalanges, 15 more
Today it means
noun Size, specifically, volume.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- / bulk