A bulletin was originally a daily report or a regular notice, and later an official bulletin. Since the eighteenth century, many periodicals have carried this title, ie periodical printed works (gazettes, journals, magazines, newspapers, and newspapers). In addition, the Bulletin refers to the official medical report of a person of public life. Today it is mostly an official statement. An example is the Epidemiological Bulletin of the Robert Koch Institute with official announcements and contributions.
The term is derived from the French word for report, which goes back to the old French bull and is ultimately a borrowing of the Latin bulla. A bull is a kind of document. Consequently, the French translation already refers to what is involved: namely, the reproduction of a factual report [which is usually an official statement].
Bulletin as a scientific communication
Originally the term meant a kind of the daily report. For example, academies or learned societies informed about the regular meetings and the scientific contributions of their members. Documentation of scientific work can also be considered a bulletin.
The Bulletins of the Petersburg Academy as well as the Bullettino of the Archaeological Institute in Rome can be regarded as examples. The Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma was first published in 1872 and documents the archaeological discoveries and restoration work of the city of Rome, the Bulletins of the Petersburg Academy, which have included scientific contributions.
Cover sheets of the bulletins of the Petersburg Academy and the Archaeological Institute of Rome.
Bulletino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma © University of Heidelberg, License: CC BY-SA 3.0, [Source]
Bulletin as a health or army report
Furthermore, the daily reports of doctors about the state of health of a high-ranking public figure or army reports are also called bulletins.
For example, the 29th Bulletin of the Grande Armée, published on December 17, 1812, as part of the French newspaper Le Moniteur Universel. This report is an announcement of the French general and later Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
In the book, Napoleon justifies why the French forces were withdrawing and justified the failure of the campaign to Russia. It is responsible for the sudden coldness which destroyed large parts of the victorious French army (Grande Armée).
The Emperor’s portrayals are, however, responsible for the fact that the legend still circulates that France failed entirely in the Russian winter, and that the Russian army was clearly superior to the Battle of Beresina and thus pushed the French back.
The defeated French army during the Russian campaign
Napoleon’s retreat from Pontin’s Southport, Adolph Northen, license: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Furthermore, a bulletin of a doctor’s report on the state of health of a person of public life or of a high-ranking national official is described. For example, there is the French President’s health bulletin in France, which is periodically informed of the President’s health status and published by the Élysée Palace (office).
