Bulge and Budget Come From the Same Leather Bag
A bulge is a swelling. The word comes from a Latin term for a leather bag, and so does budget, by way of the bag a chancellor carried.
A bulge is a rounded swelling. Its ancestor is Latin *bulga*, a leather bag, and it shares that ancestor with *budget*: a budget was originally a little bag, then the bag of documents a chancellor brought to Parliament, then the financial statement inside it. The British chancellor still holds up a red box on budget day, which is the bag, several centuries on.
- A swelling. *A bulge in the wall.*
- To swell out. *His pockets bulged.*
- A temporary increase. *A bulge in demand.*
- Bulging — swollen. *Bulging files.*
- Budget — from the same root. *The annual budget.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bulge | A small bulge. |
| Verb | bulge | The bag bulged. |
| Adjective | bulging | Bulging pockets. |
| Related | budget | A tight budget. |
| Latin | bulga | A leather bag. |
- There is a bulge in the plaster.Physical.
- His eyes bulged at the price.Figurative.
- Budget originally meant a small bag.Etymology.
How budget got its meaning
- Latin bulga — a leather bag
- Old French bougette — a little bag
- English budget — the bag of papers a chancellor carried
- To open the budget meant to present the financial plan
- The red box on British budget day is the surviving bag
Old French *boulge*, a leather bag or wallet, from Latin *bulga*, itself probably from a Gaulish source. The swelling sense developed in English by the 1600s.
Are bulge and budget related?
Yes. Both come from Latin bulga, a leather bag. A budget was the bag of papers before it was the plan inside.
Why does the chancellor hold up a red box?
It is the descendant of the budget bag that once carried the financial papers to Parliament.