Maurice Ravel’s renowned orchestral composition Bolero (a personal favorite of mine) is inspired by a traditional Spanish dance style performed in 3/4 time. The term “bolero” has been in use since the 1780s and originates from Spanish. It is believed to have stemmed from the word bola, which means “ball” in Spanish, due to the shared whirling motion in the dance. The word bola traces back to the Latin term bulla, used to describe round objects like “bubble” or “knob”. This Latin term, possibly through Gaulish influence, can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root bhel, meaning “to swell”. Interestingly, bhel is also the source of various English words related to swelling, such as ball, balloon, boulder, bull, and bowl. In present-day English, the term bolero accounts for less than 0.00001% of all words used.
