The Hindu Business Line : Budget is FM's leather bag

One wonders if the budging properties of the Budget were known long ago because budge also means a bag, from the Latin bulga for knapsack. And these days, the Budget causes almost everyone to budge, though a bit uneasily.

IN Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, Slender speaks of a codeword to get to know his girl: "I come to her in white, and cry `mum;' she cries `budget;' and by that we know one another." As of now, however, with just about a week to go before we know what Mr Chidambaram has in mind, mum is the word as far as Budget is concerned.

True to tradition, on the morning of July 8, we will see photographs of the Finance Minister poring over papers at his table, fine-tuning the Budget proposals. Soon thereafter, he will arrive at Parliament, smiling at the TV cameras and carrying a leather bag with all those important papers. A budget with a Budget, because the word, as Webster Dictionary 1913 explains, is a bag or sack with its contents.

It has its origin in the French bougette for bag, wallet. `Budge' looks very close but is from the French bouger, to stir. "I'll not budge an inch, boy," is bard-speak in The Taming of the Shrew, but these are days when the Budget causes almost everyone to budge, though a bit uneasily.

One wonders if the budging properties of the Budget were known long ago because budge also means a bag, from the Latin bulga for knapsack. Budge was also the expensive fur used to trim scholastic habits.

There used to be `budge bachelors', men clothed in long gowns lined with budge, who accompanied the Lord Mayor of London at his inaugural procession.

Budget and belly share some common origin in Old English belg for bag, yet when in a restaurant, giving in too much to the belly puts you in danger of shooting beyond your budget.

In its popular meaning, budget is a statement of the financial position of an administration for a definite period of time based on estimates of expenditures during the period and proposals for financing them; and it is a plan for the coordination of resources and expenditures.

Budget was used in the figurative sense of a bundle of news, or of a long letter full of news, explains World Wide Words by Michael Quinion. Thus, many newspapers had the word Budget as part of their names. Budget as a basket of news is still used in newspaper software.

"The connection with finance appeared first only in 1733, as the result of a scurrilous pamphlet entitled The Budget Opened," notes Quinion. However, in due course, the word lost its satirical punch and became part of political jargon.

By the end of the 19th Century, it was, therefore, permissible to use budget as a verb to mean expenditure planning.

Budget, in the sense of cheap or economical, as suitable for people with a limited amount of money to spend, is just about half-a-century old. "Budget items, aside from being of less luxurious quality, are often reduced in packaging," explains Wikipedia. Which means, don't ask why the shopkeeper peels off the soap wrapper to make you eligible for a one rupee discount.

Economists explain how a consumer's `budget line' characterises on a graph the maximum amount of goods a consumer can afford.

When prices rise, you can see how the maximum shrinks dramatically, causing a lump in your throat. But bulge is a word closely related to budget, and it too meant `bag' once upon a time, though it means swelling or lump — "not a surprising change if you think of the often irregular shapes of old leather containers," comments Quinion.

Another disturbing cousin of budget is bilge — "a different orthography of bulge, of same origin as belly," notes Dictionary.com; it means the lowest part of a ship's hull. "Because foul odours collected there, the word was used figuratively to mean nonsense or rubbish," adds World Wide Words. However, about that you can keep `mum' when the Finance Minister says `Budget'.

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