Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Ebullient
Ebullient means exuberant or overflowing with high spirits or enthusiasm. It is from the Latin ebullire, to bubble or boil, so it literally means to boil over. Ebullient people are generally cheerful, vivacious and fun to be around. Puppies and kittens are abundantly ebullient.
Ebullire comes from bulla, the Latin word for bubble or round object, so it is quite fitting that an ebullient person is often described as having a bubbly personality.
The Latin word bulla is the origin of the term papal bull. This direct edict from the Pope is named for the round seal or medallion used to seal the document, not for its bubbly content. (A particularly un-bubbly papal bull was issued in 1252 by Pope Innocent IV that authorized the use of torture to elicit confessions from heretics and their subsequent execution by burning them alive.)
Bull, referring to the male animal, is thought to have derived from an Old Norse word, boli, and is unrelated to the Latin bulla.
There are websites and blogs devoted to cultivating a bubbly personality. An online search for a bubbly personality quiz finds 1,430,000 hits. The same search using “ebullient personality quiz” finds a mere 46,000. You can develop your bubble-bility, but may run the risk of being mistaken for a bubblehead, a much less desirable trait.
