Etymology: < burble v.¹: compare bubble n. and adj. With sense 2 compare the use of Old French bubette in the two senses of pimple, swelling, and ‘bulle d'air dans l'eau’ (Godefroy).Previous versions of the OED give the stress as: ˈburble.

Etymology: see burble v.²

Etymology: Found c1300. There are several similar forms in Romanic: Italian borbogliare to make a rumbling or grumbling noise, Portuguese borbulhar , Spanish borbollar to bubble forth, also modern Picard borbouller to murmur (Diez); all apparently imitative words, though Diez thinks the Spanish and Portuguese possibly formed on Latin bulla bubble. The English word can hardly have any actual connection with these, except as a parallel onomatopoeia, expressing the sound made by the agitation, issuing forth, or flowing of a liquid mixed with vesicles of air or gas. Of this the later bubble v. appears to have been either a simple variant or a conscious modification. In the later use of burble there is more of the notion of flowing than in bubble, as though burble combined the notions of bubble and purl; but the noun burble was in 14–16th cent. exactly = Latin bulla ‘bubble’.

Etymology: Compare French barbouiller ‘to jumble, confound, huddle, or mingle ill-fauouredly’ (Cotgrave), and its cognates: compare especially Catalan borbollar to perplex, bewilder. But actual connection between these and the Scots word is not evidenced. Compare barbulye n.Previous versions of the OED give the stress as: ˈburble.