blond

Pronunciation

• IPA: /blɔ̃/^[1]

Forms

blond (feminine blonde, masculine plural blonds, feminine plural blondes)^[1] Old French blund (about 1100), blond from 1164.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[3][4] It is usually traced to a Germanic “*blunda-” (Frankish *blund), since it names a hair colour typical of northern peoples and many French colour words are Germanic, such as blanc, bleu, brun and gris.^[3][5][6][7] The Germanic word has no match in the later Germanic languages: German blond was borrowed from French through courtly poetry, and English blond also comes from French.^[3][5] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *blundaz (“mixed, blinding”) and has the French word from Medieval Latin blondus, Rey notes that no Latin form is recorded before the mid-12th century, although the word must have passed through spoken Latin.^[1][3] Kluge compared it, hypothetically, with Sanskrit ब्रध्न (bradhná, “reddish”).^[3]

Cognate with Italian biondo and Old Occitan blon.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it is a noun, a fair-haired person: Jurfaleu le blund.^[2][9][6] It is an adjective from about 1160.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy it described the hair itself from about 1200, and, from 1336 things of a golden yellow, such as pain blond; often it is opposed to brun, as in bière blonde and une blonde (1882).^[3] Blond vénitien refers to the colours of painters such as Titian.^[3]

La blonde de qqn “someone's girlfriend” (1810 in Canada) is dated in European French, remembered in the song Auprès de ma blonde, but remains usual in Quebec.^[3][10] As a feminine noun it also named a plant, the mullein (1561), a silk lace (1740) and a cigarette of light tobacco (20th century).^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Blund, a fair-haired person, Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1160 – Adjective.^[3]
• 1336 – Pain blond.^[3]
• 1740 – Blonde, a silk lace.^[3]
• 1810 – Sa blonde “his girlfriend”, in Canada.^[3]
• 1882 – De la blonde, light beer.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. blond, fair (of hair); fair-haired: cheveux blonds, blond comme les blés.^[10][1]
2. Pale yellow, golden: bière blonde, tabac blond.^[3][4]
3. Chères têtes blondes: children.^[10][1]

Noun

1. A fair-haired person: une belle blonde.^[10]
2. (Quebec) Sa blonde: his girlfriend or wife.^[10][3]
3. (feminine) A light beer; a cigarette of light tobacco.^[3]

Word family

• blondeur
• blondir
• blondin
• blondinet
• blondasse

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 170b
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert