Etymologically
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blame

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bleɪm/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English blamen,[2][3] borrowed from Old French blasmer (“to rebuke, reprimand, condemn”), later blamer (modern French blâmer),[4][5] from Vulgar Latin *blastēmāre,[4][5] an alteration of Late Latin blasphēmāre (“to blaspheme; to revile, reproach”),[4][5][6] from Ancient Greek βλασφημεῖν (blasphēmeîn, “to speak ill of, blaspheme”).[5][3][7] According to the OED the word entered Latin through the New Testament.[5] The noun is from Old French blasme, a back-formation from the verb.[4][6] It replaced Old English wītan.[4] It is a doublet of blaspheme.[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To find fault with”, the opposite of praise: probably before 1200 in Barnhart,[5] about 1200 in Etymonline and the OED.[4][8]

Semantic evolution

“To lay responsibility on for something wrong” is from about 1300.[4][8] The noun first meant an expression of disapproval, a rebuke, in the early 13th century,[4] and responsibility for something wrong from the mid-14th century,[4] with to lay the blame on from 1393 in the OED.[8] To be to blame is old, and in the 16th and 17th centuries it was sometimes taken as an adjective, “too blame”.[8] As a mild oath, blame it! and blamed if I know, it is from 1830,[8] in general dialect and American use.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – to find fault with.[5][4]
  • early 13th century – noun, a rebuke.[4]
  • c. 1300 – to hold responsible.[4]
  • mid-14th century – responsibility.[4]
  • 1830 – as a mild oath.[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To hold responsible: blamed him for the delay.
  2. To find fault with; to censure.
  3. To place responsibility for something: blamed the accident on the weather.

Noun

  1. Responsibility for a fault or error; culpability.
  2. Censure; condemnation.

Word family

  • blamer
  • blameless
  • blamelessly
  • blamelessness
  • blameful
  • blameworthy
  • blamable
  • blameable
  • blaspheme
  • blasphemy

Usage notes

The American Heritage distinguishes blame, which stresses censure or punishment for a lapse one is held accountable for, from fault, guilt and criticize.[10]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin