Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/57

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bleichen, vb., ‘to lose colour,’ erbleichen, ‘to grow pale,’ from MidHG. blîchen, ‘to shine, blush,’ OHG. blîhhan; comp. AS. blîcan, MidE. blîken, ‘to turn pale’; OIc. blíkja, ‘to appear, shine, lighten.’ The i root of Slav. bliskati, ‘to sparkle’ (for *bligskati), blěskŭ, ‘splendour,’ Lith. blaivýtis, ‘to clear up,’ is more closely connected with the word than the e root in φλέγω, ‘to burn, flame.’ The pre-Teut. form of the root was perhaps bhlig, meaning ‘lustre’ (comp. also Blech, bleich; further OHG. blick, see Blitz). —

Bleicher(t), m., ‘pale-red wine, claret,’ a recent deriv. from bleich.

Bleihe, f., ‘whitebait, bleak,’ Du. term for a ‘species of white fish; comp. Du. blei, MidLG. and MidDu. bleie, AS. blœ̂ge, E. *blay; from blajjôn for *blaigjôn (comp. OHG. reia, AS. rœ̂ge, from raigjon; see under Reh). As ModHG. Ricke is a parallel form of OHG. reia, so MidHG. and ModHG. (Swiss) blicke is a variant of LG. bleie. The primary meaning and further cognates are uncertain; OHG. bleihha, MidHG. bleiche, would point to a connection with bleich (comp. OIc. blígja, ‘to glance at’).

blenden, vb., ‘to blind,’ from the equiv. MidHG. blęnden, OHG. blęnten; comp. AS. blęndan, whereas E. has to blind based upon blind; factitive of blind. It is remarkable in connection with this word that an old form, *blandjan, as it would be written in Goth., is derived by gradation from an adj. (blinds, Goth.); a str. vb. blindan, ‘to be blind,’ has never existed. Blende, ‘blind, screen,’ first found in ModHG., is a deriv. of blenden.

Blendling, m., ‘mongrel,’ from MidHG. blanden, OHG. blantan, ‘to mix’; Goth. blandan. This OTeut. str. vb., meaning ‘to mix,’ is based, according to the laws of the permutation of consonants, on a pre-Teut. root bhlandh, not found in any other word.

bletzen, ‘to patch,’ see under Placken.

Blick, m., ‘glance, look, gleam,’ from MidHG. blick, ‘splendour, lightning, glance’; corresponds to OHG. blic (blicches), n., ‘lightning’ (also blicfiur, ‘electricity’). The orig. sense of the MidHG. word was probably heller Strahl (a bright flash), Strahl being used figuratively of the eye as of lightning; the physical meaning of the stem has been preserved in Blitz. The root is shown under blecken, and especially under Blitz, to be the pre-Teut. bhleg.

blind, adj. ‘blind’ from MidHG.

blint(d), ‘blind, dark, murky, hidden, null,’ OHG. blint; comp. the corresponding Goth. blinds, AS. blind, E. blind. An ancient but very remarkable factitive form from this adj., with no parallel str. vb., is blenden (Goth. *blandjan). It is still undecided whether d is an old partic. suffix, like Gr. -τος, Lat. -tus, Sans. -tas; considering the meaning of the word, it might easily be connected with the Sans. root bhram, ‘to move unsteadily’ (partic. bhrântá-s). Yet its kinship with Lith. blandýti, ‘to cast down the eyes,’ blindo, blísti, ‘to grow dark,’ is more probable (comp. OIc. blunda, ‘to close, blink the eyes,’ E. to blunder). — Another word for ‘blind’ in the Aryan group is Lat. caecus, OIr. cáech; Goth. haihs, corresponding to these, means ‘one-eyed.’ It seems, moreover, that in the Aryan languages there were no terms for ‘blind, deaf, lame, dumb,’ and other infirmities, common to all of them; there is only an agreement between two or three languages at most.

Blindschleiche, see under Schleichen.

blinken, vb., ‘to gleam, twinkle, blink,’ first occurs in ModHG.; related to blank, blink, adj.; comp. Du. blinken, MidE. blinken, E. to blink. The root may be identical with that of bleichen (blîkan), the i-root becoming nasalised; blinken would then be regarded as a verb of the e class. and blank a secondary form.

blinzeln, vb., ‘to blink, wink.’ It may be connected with blind; yet comp. also OIc. blunda, ‘to blink,’ and Lith. blandyti, ‘to cast down the eyes.’

Blitz, m., from the equiv. MidHG. blitze, blicze, blicz, m., ‘lightning’ (Swiss even now blitzg for bliktz); a derivative of MidHG. bliczen, ‘to lighten,’ OHG. blëcchazzen (formed like the equiv. Goth. lauhatjun). Allied to the earlier OHG. and MidHG. blic, ‘lightning.’ The Teut. root blëk corresponds to Aryan bhleg, bhlog, in Gr. φλέγω, ‘to burn, blaze,’ φλόξ, ‘flame,’ Sans. bhrâj, ‘to radiate, sparkle’ (whence Sans. bharga(s), ‘splendour,’ and bhṛgu, ‘the special gods of light’), as well as Lat. fulgur, fulmen (for *fulgmen), ‘lightning.’ To the Aryan root bhleg the following also belong: Du. bliksem, OSax. bliksmo, bliksni, ‘lightning,’ Du. blaken, ‘to flame,’ AS. blœcern, blacern, ‘candlestick’ (see Blaker), and perhaps blank (comp. further blecken and Blick).

Block, m., ‘block, log, prison,’ from MidHG. bloch, ‘log, plant, a sort of trap.’