Etymologically
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blanc

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (France): /blɑ̃/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec): /blã/[1]

Forms

blanc (feminine blanche, masculine plural blancs, feminine plural blanches)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Proto-West Germanic *blank (“shining, bright”), a West Germanic adjective reconstructed from Old High German blanc (“shining, white”), Old Norse blakkr (“pale”) and Old English “blanca”, a noun meaning “white horse”.[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary takes it through Frankish *blank and blancus to Proto-Germanic *blankaz (“bright, shining”).[1] Rey, however, notes that the word passed straight into Occitan, Italian and Catalan as well, so that its spread rules out a strictly Frankish origin; he suggests that it was used, like other colour words of the same origin (“brun”, “fauve”, “gris”), by Germanic soldiers for the coat of horses.[2] The further origin of the Germanic word is obscure: a nasalized form of the verb seen in Old Saxon blīkan (“to shine”) has been proposed, but the intermediate forms are missing.[2]

The Germanic word displaced Latin albus (“dull white”), which survives in French only in compounds such as aubépine, and candidus (“bright white”).[3][2][4]

Cognate with Italian bianco, Old Occitan blanc and Catalan blanc; Spanish blanco and Portuguese branco were borrowed from French.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is recorded about 950; in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it describes mules, Charlemagne's white beard (chenuz et blancs) and a gleaming shield.[4][6][2]

Semantic evolution

The original sense “shining”, used in Old French of weapons and metal (1080), has almost disappeared except in armes blanches (1690), first armour that was neither bronzed nor gilded, then (1694) bladed weapons as opposed to firearms.[2] Of clothing it named those dressed in white, as the frères blancs (1174), the Cistercian monks.[2][6]

From “white” the sense moved towards “colourless” and “empty”: blank paper, a chèque en blanc, en blanc “without writing”, tirer à blanc with a blank cartridge.[2][7][8] As a noun le blanc is the colour, white clothing, white paint, the white of an egg (blanc d'œuf, 15th century), a blank space or gap, and familiarly white wine, un Blanc is a white person.[3][1][9] English blank (about 1325) was borrowed from French.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 950 – First record.[4][2]
  • c. 1100 – Blanc of mules, hair and a shining shield in the Chanson de Roland.[6][2]
  • 1174 – Frères blancs, white-robed monks.[2]
  • 15th century – Blanc d'œuf “egg white”.[3]
  • 1690 – Armes blanches.[2]
  • 1694 – Arme blanche of a bladed weapon.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. white, of the colour of snow or milk.[7][9]
  2. Pale, wan: blanc d'émotion; white-haired.[9]
  3. Of or relating to white people: une chanteuse de jazz blanche.[9]
  4. blank, without writing: page blanche, voter blanc.[7][1]
  5. Arme blanche: a bladed weapon.[2]

Noun

  1. The colour white; white clothing: se marier en blanc.[7][9]
  2. A white colouring matter or paint: blanc de zinc.[7]
  3. The white part of something: blanc d'œuf, blanc de poulet.[9]
  4. A blank space in a text or form; a silence or gap in a conversation.[9][1]
  5. (familiar) A glass of white wine.[9][1]
  6. Un Blanc, une Blanche: a white person.[1]

Word family

  • blancheur
  • blanchir
  • blanchaille
  • blanchâtre
  • blanchisserie
  • blanchisseur

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 138b
  6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)