bulletin [M17th] The word bulletin derives from Italian bulletta meaning ‘official warrant or certificate’—something like a passport today. The root is the Italian and medieval Latin word bulla ‘seal, sealed document’, the source of *bill meaning ‘written statement of charges’ and of *bull meaning ‘papal edict’. The original Latin meaning of bulla was ‘bubble’, and this is the basis of bowl [OE] in the sense ‘ball’ and ultimately ‘basin’ and of budge [L16th] which comes via French bouger ‘to stir’, from Latin bullire ‘boil, bubble’, bullet [E16th] originally a small ball, bullion [ME] from the idea of bubbling metal, and ebullient [L16th] ‘bubbling’.