bullez

n. (pl.)

Cl bol, pl. boles, buleʒWA bule, gen. sg. boyles, pl. bules

'(wild) bulls' (Modern English bulls)

Etymology

Most recent authorities accept the existence of OE bula (or a personal name derived from it) which is attested in charters and/or *bulla  from the PGmc n-stem *bulōn ‘bull’  (best represented by ODan bul and its OWN cognates (with different vocalism) as in OIcel boli) and many are content with this as the proximate etymon of ME bul- forms (so MED, GDS, McGee 325, 549–50). Forms found elsewhere in WGmc (e.g. MLG bulle, Du bul, Ger Bulle and the derivative OE bulluc) are probably from a variant *bull-. Some have nevertheless adduced input from ON on ME bul- forms (thus TGD and (problematically) OED, Bj., AEW; see further Dance). A better case could be made for ME forms in bol-, which are often derived < OWN boli (so OED and MED); but even here there is room for doubt, and VEPN attributes ME vacillation between <o> and <u> spellings in place-names as ‘more probably the result of ME scribal o for u, together with a tendency for the vowels to coalesce before a liquid’.

PGmc Ancestor

*bulōn 

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

boli 'bull'
(ONP boli (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Icel boli, Norw bol, ODan bul

OE Cognate

bula 'bull'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CCC5a

Attestation

Bul- forms are markedly less frequent than is bol- in MED.  They are cited from several early ME texts (Orrm, LB and the KG), and then mainly from the 15c. in literature (though they are far more widespread in place- and personal names, MED’s sense 4).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 722; Cl 55, 392, 1682; WA 751*, 3846, 3903 etc.

Three occurrences in WA come in the phrase see bule(s) 'hippopotamus', often printed as a compound.

Bibliography

MED bōle (n.1) , OED bull (n.1) , HTOED , Dance bullez, Bj. 179n.1, 205, 286, DP 24, de Vries boli, Mag. boli, Orel *Bulōn, Kroonen *bul(l)an-, AEW bula; bulluc DOE bulluc, VEPN bula