blowan

Forms

blōwan (strong class 7; third-person singular present blēwþ, past singular blēow, past plural blēowon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *blōaną (“to bloom, flower”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to bloom, flower”).^[1][2] Old English alone keeps the strong verb; the other West Germanic languages have the weak Proto-Germanic *blōjaną: Old Frisian blōia, Old Saxon blōian and Old High German bluoen.^[2][3] It is related to Latin flōs (“flower”) and Middle Irish bláth (“bloom”).^[2][4] Köbler puts it under Pokorny's Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“leaf, bloom, to sprout”).^[5]

The nouns blōstma (“blossom”) and blōma (“ingot”) were made from it.^[6][4] It is a strong verb of class 7.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century, in Psalm 71: & blowað of cestre swe swe heg eorðan “and they will flower out of the city like the grass of the earth”.^[8][9] The Junius Psalter gloss of the early tenth century has the same words, blowað of ceastre.^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used of plants that bloom and blossom: in the Maxims wudu sceal blǣdum blōwan “the wood must bloom with blossoms”, and in a homily Aaron's rod was found blówende and berende hnyte “blossoming and bearing nuts”.^[7] Herbs are to be gathered when they bloom most.^[11] In the glosses it renders Latin florere, reflorere and frondescere.^[5][11] Figuratively it means to flourish or prosper.^[1]

It lived on as Middle English blowen, “to come into flower”, and English blow, “to bloom”, the source of the blown in full-blown.^[12][13]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – blowað of cestre in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][9]
• s. x¹ – blowað of ceastre in the Junius Psalter gloss.^[10][9]
• s. x² – bearu blōwende “a blooming grove” in a riddle of the Exeter Book.^[1][14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to bloom, blossom, flower.^[7][5][15]
2. to flourish, prosper.^[7][1]

Word family

• ġeblōwan
• blōstma
• blōma
• beorhtblōwende

Descendants

• Middle English blowen (→ English blow; Scots blaw)^[1]

Usage notes

It is a different verb from blāwan (“to blow”); in Middle English the two are listed apart as blouen (1) and (2).^[12][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 50
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 28
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. blōwan
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 283
7. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 113
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
9. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 515
11. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 99
12. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 223
15. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 48