blazon

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English blasoun, also blasen,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French blason (“shield”),^{[4][5][6][3][7]} a word recorded in Anglo-Norman from the third quarter of the 12th century, as shield, armorial bearings and shoulder-blade.^[8] The further origin is unknown or uncertain.^{[9][10][5][6][7]} The form is widespread in Romance, as in Spanish blasón, Italian blasone, Portuguese brasão and Occitan blezo, though the Spanish and Italian words are said to be loans from French.^[5][4][7] Diez and Littré looked to a Germanic word for a flame or a conspicuous mark, or to German blasen (“to blow”), but the OED objects that the first meaning was simply a literal shield, as the earliest quotations and the Old French sense "shoulder blade" show, and not "glory" or "proclamation".^[4][5] Klein likewise denies a link with Old High German blāsan (“to blow”) or Old English blæse (“torch, fire”),^[7] though Weekley thought a link with the flame not impossible.^[11] The verb comes from the noun or directly from French blasonner, in use in the 15th century,^[4][5][12] and it was shaped by blaze in the sense "to make public", which is older in English; in the 16th century each of them influenced the other.^{[4][5][13][9]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A shield: in a tournament record of 1278, "ij Crest & j Blazoun".^[2][6] The OED's first quotation, for a heraldic shield, is from about 1325, in Coer de Lyon.^[4] Etymonline dates the noun to the late 13th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English noun meant a shield, normally one bearing arms, and also the arms themselves;^[2] in Piers Plowman a knight is known "by his blasen".^[2] The war shield went out of use,^[4][2] and the heraldic sense passed to the correct description of arms, recorded from 1610 in Guillim's Display of Heraldrie,^[4] while Johnson (1755) defined it as the art of drawing or explaining coats of arms.^[12] The non-heraldic senses of noun and verb show the influence of blaze, "to make public":^[4][13] a record of virtues from 1574, and the "eternal blazon" of Hamlet (1603), which Johnson explained as "show; divulgation; publication".^[4][12] Weekley called the sense "proclamation" a mistaken association, helped by the idea of description in the heraldic term.^[11] For the verb, the Middle English Dictionary has inscribing with arms from about 1425 and describing arms from 1440,^[2] but among the later records the OED finds the non-heraldic senses first: boasting before 1533 and proclaiming from 1577, while the heraldic "describe" is not recorded under this form until 1586.^[4][14] Etymonline, however, dates "set forth descriptively" to the 1510s.^[5] In Scots law a blazon was the badge of a king's messenger.^[4]

Timeline

• 1278 – a shield, especially one bearing arms.^[2][6]
• c. 1325 – a heraldic shield; a coat of arms.^[4]
• c. 1425 – verb, to inscribe with armorial bearings.^[2] Barnhart dates it before 1420.^[14]
• 1440 – verb, to describe arms in heraldic terms.^[2]
• before 1533 – verb, to publish boastfully, to boast of.^[4][13]
• 1553 – verb, to describe fitly, to set forth honourably in words.^[4] Etymonline dates this to the 1510s.^[5]
• 1570 – verb, to paint arms by the rules of heraldry.^[4] Etymonline dates this to the 1560s.^[5]
• 1574 – noun, a description or record, especially of virtues.^[4]
• 1577 – verb, to proclaim or make known.^[4][14]
• 1603 – noun, show, publication.^[4][12]
• 1610 – noun, the correct heraldic description of arms.^[4]
• 1813 – verb, to adorn with arms or names in colours.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A coat of arms; a shield bearing armorial devices.^[13][3][9]
2. The correct technical description or depiction of a coat of arms in heraldry.^[13][3][15]
3. A description or record, especially of good qualities.^[15][13][4]
4. Showy display: the blazon of his many victories.^[13][12]
5. (obsolete) A shield used in war.^[4][2]

Verb

1. To proclaim widely and publicly: The papers blazoned the scandal across their front pages.^[15][13][3]
2. To describe a coat of arms in proper heraldic terms.^[15][13][3]
3. To draw or paint a coat of arms by the rules of heraldry.^[15][13][3]
4. To adorn with arms, or as if with them: a banner blazoned with golden lions.^[3][4]
5. To boast of.^[13][4]

Word family

• blazoner
• blazonment
• blazoning
• blazonry

Related words

• emblazon
• blaze

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins