*blāu

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *blāu "blue" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue”),^[1][2] which Kroonen cites by its stem *blēwa- and Orel as *ƀlēwaz,^[2][3] while Köbler gives both *blēwa- and *blǣwa-.^[4] The root vowel shows the shift of Proto-Germanic *ǣ (*ē₁) to *ā, the first of the sound changes that Düwel, Nedoma and Oehrl list for the southern West Germanic phoneme system.^[5]

Morphology

An adjective,^[2] a wa-stem in Old High German.^[6]

Evidence

The adjective is attested as Old Frisian blāu, Old Saxon blāo and Old High German blāo.^[6] Old Saxon has it only in two glosses for Latin lividus, the dative ⟨blauuemo⟩ and the accusative plural ⟨blauuon⟩.^[7][6] ONW records Old Dutch only as a reconstructed *blāo, taken from the FEW.^[8] Kroonen and Wiktionary give an Old English blāw,^[2][1] but EWA finds the word in Old English only in blǣhǣwen (“light blue”) and blǣwen, and takes Middle English blo and blā for Scandinavian loans.^[6][9] Late Latin blavus, first in Isidore of Seville and in glosses of the 8th and 9th centuries, and Old French blo, bleu were borrowed from Frankish *blāo (“blue, lead-coloured”).^[10][11][6]

Meanings

1. blue^[1][2]

Old High German also used the word for "dark", "grey" and "lead-coloured",^[6][12] Old Saxon for "pale" and "livid",^[7] and Old Frisian used it as a noun for "bruise".^[13]

Reflexes

• Old Frisian: blāu (“blue”)^[14]
• Old Saxon: blāo (“blue, pale, livid”)^[7]
• Old High German: blāo (“blue, dark, grey, lead-coloured”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *blāu
2. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 68
3. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 49
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *blēwa-
5. ^ Düwel, Klaus; Nedoma, Robert; Oehrl, Sigmund (2020), Die südgermanischen Runeninschriften, 2 vols, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 119, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 1.2 Phonemsystem
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. blâo
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. blāo
8. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. blāo
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. blǣwen
10. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 132
11. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1970), Romania Germanica: Sprach- und Siedlungsgeschichte der Germanen auf dem Boden des alten Römerreichs, vol. 1: Zu den ältesten Berührungen zwischen Römern und Germanen. Die Franken, 2nd ed., Berlin: de Gruyter, p. 445
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. blāo
13. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. blāw
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. blāu