An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/platzen

by Friedrich Kluge

platzen, vb., ‘to crash, burst,’ from MidHG. platzen, blatzen, ‘to fall with a noise, strike.’ This word and blesten, ‘to splash,’ are derived from an onomat. stem, blad. Platschen and plätschern, Du. plassen, ‘to plash’ (plasregen, equiv. to Platzregen), are intensive forms of platzen.