blande

Forms

blandē (comparative blandius, superlative blandissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin blandus (“flattering, charming”) + -ē.^[2][1] The origin of blandus is uncertain: de Vaan rejects the link with mollis (“soft”) as phonetically impossible, reports Schrijver's preform *mlh₂-d-no-, which would connect Ancient Greek μαλακός (malakós, “soft”) and Old Irish mláith (“soft”), and mentions Ernout and Meillet's idea of a flattering voice, which would bring in balbus (“stammering”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Naevius.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It means in a coaxing or winning way, charmingly or seductively.^[2] Seneca uses it of things that draw one on seductively, and Pliny the Elder of a bark that pleases the eye more than any other.^[5] The Vulgate's Proverbs says that wine goes down smoothly but at the last bites like a snake, and Ammianus has a bird fluttering soothingly round a resting beast.^[5] Plautus and Titinius have the older adverb blanditer.^[5] The TLL lists amīcē, benignē, leniter and molliter beside it, and minaciter, saeviter and sevērē as its opposites.^[5] Church Latin glosses it softly, tenderly, caressingly.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca the Younger of seductive things.^[5][4]
• 390–406 AD – the Vulgate of wine going down smoothly.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In a coaxing or winning way, charmingly, persuasively, seductively; flatteringly.^[2][1]
2. Softly, tenderly, courteously.^[6][1]

Related words

• blandiloquentia
• blandīmentum
• blandior
• blanditia
• blandītus
• blandus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson