*blank

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs the adjective *blank "bright, shining" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *blankaz (“bright, shining”), which Kroonen and Heidermanns cite by its stem *blanka- and Orel as *ƀlankaz.^[2][3][4]

Morphology

An adjective.^[3] Heidermanns counts it among the primary adjectives and finds it in North and West Germanic, in English only indirectly.^[3] Old English has the weak noun Old English blanca (“white horse”),^[5] which Kroonen takes to show that English once had the native adjective.^[2]

Evidence

EWA records Old English blanc (“white”) as rare, beside blanca.^[6] Old Saxon has it only in the compound Old Saxon wahsblank (“wax-pale”), which glosses Latin albus and is used of a horse in 11th-century glosses.^[7] Old High German blanc means "pale, whitish, shining", especially of a horse.^[6] The western Old Frisian laws have blank of a bare sword.^[8] No Old Dutch form is recorded: Heidermanns finds the adjective in Dutch only from Middle Dutch blanc (“bright, white”).^[3] Gamillscheg derives French blanc (“white”), recorded from the 11th century, from Frankish *blank rather than from Germanic in general, because outside Gallo-Romance the word is native only in Italian.^[9] Kroonen and EWA describe the spread of the Germanic adjective into Romance as Late Latin blancus, whence Italian bianco and Spanish blanco.^[2][6]

Competing analyses

Kroonen takes the adjective to have been formed to the poorly attested strong verb *blinkan- "to shine", a nasalized variant of *blīkan-.^[2] Heidermanns argues the reverse: the adjective is more widespread and recorded earlier than Middle Dutch blinken and its Middle Low German counterpart, so the verb is likely secondary to it.^[3] Orel calls the adjective probably deverbative, but finds the strong verb only marginally attested and perhaps secondary.^[4] EWA takes it for a nasal-infixed form of a root meaning "to shine", or else, following Lühr, a nasalized form of *blak(k)a- "black", the two being later differentiated as "white" and "black"; it too regards the verb as a younger derivative.^[6] Wiktionary gives both explanations, a late formation from *blinkaną or a nasal-infixed form of *blakaz.^[10]

Meanings

1. bright, shining^[1]

Heidermanns takes the starting meaning to be "faintly shining", which developed both to "pale, dark", as in Old Norse blakkr, and to "bright, white".^[3]

Reflexes

• Old English: blanc (“white”)^[6]
• Old Frisian: blank (“bare (of a sword)”)^[8]
• Old Saxon: wahsblank (“wax-pale”)^[7]
• Old High German: blanc (“pale, whitish, shining”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *blank
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 67
3. ^ a b c d e f Heidermanns, Frank (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. blanka-
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 47
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. blanca
6. ^ a b c d e f 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. blanc
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wahsblank
8. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. blank
9. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 129
10. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *blankaz