bles

Forms

bles f (plural blessen, diminutive blesje n)^[1] Older Dutch also has blesse, and Middle Dutch has blasse beside bles (inflected blese) and blaer.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch blasse and bles, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *blasī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *blasį̄ (“blaze, white mark on the forehead”).^[5][1][6] The EWN gives the Germanic stems as *blesa- and *blasa-, and Franck–Van Wijk explain the two vowels as ablaut; they take the ⟨e⟩ of the Dutch word to be old, as the inflected Middle Dutch blese shows.^[5][3] From the same stem, with grammatical change and rhotacism of /s/ to /r/, came blaar “white mark, cow with a blaze”, Middle Dutch blaer.^[5][3][6]

The same word is Old Saxon blas (“pale”), Middle Low German blesse (“blaze”), Old High German blas (“white on the forehead, bald”) with blasros (“horse with a blaze”) (modern German blass (“pale”) and Blesse (“blaze”)), West Frisian blês (“blaze”) and Old Norse blesi (“white mark on the forehead”).^[5][6] The sense “white” grew out of “shining”: Old Dutch blasma (“flame, torch”) of the 10th century and Old English blæse (“torch, lamp”) (modern English blaze “flame”) belong to the same family.^[5][3][7]

Outside Germanic the EWN and De Vries compare Latin fulica (“coot”), the bird with a white mark on its head, Lithuanian baltas (“white”) and balas, and Albanian balásh (“horse or cow with a blaze”), and derive the group from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shining, white”).^[5][6][8] Van Veen and De Vries & De Tollenaere connect it further with blaken.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest example in the Middle Dutch dictionary (1301, Flanders or Brabant) says of a stallion that it runs te blassen, which the EWN reads, with a question mark, as “with a blaze”; the EWN dates the text about 1308.^[4][5] Van der Sijs dates the word for the white mark on a horse's forehead to 1300.^[11][9] The adjective follows in 1339 in Flanders, in eenen roeden blesen henxte “a red stallion with a blaze”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Sixteenth-century dictionaries define blesse as a white spot on the forehead and as the bald forehead of a person, and a text of 1570 says that a cow is rarely called a blesgen unless it has a spot.^[2] In 1599 Kiliaan has blesse “bald forehead” and the adjective bles “bald”; the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal adds that the ideas “bald” and “white” are closely related.^[5][2] From the mark the word passed to the animal that has it, as in a text of 1731 about harnessing one's Bles, and to a lock of hair falling over the forehead, of horses from 1573 and of people, by 1903 only in the south.^[2] In the 17th century it could also mean “fool”.^[2]

In the dialects of Flanders and Brabant a bles is also a patch of bark cut from a tree, with the verb blessen “to blaze a tree for felling”.^[12][2] English blaze “white mark on a horse's face”, recorded from 1639, is usually traced to Scandinavian, but the EWN thinks it more likely a loan from Dutch or Low German;^[6][5][13] Dutch bles also passed into South African English.^[6][5][13]

Timeline

• 1300 – The word for the white mark on a horse's forehead is first recorded.^[11][9]
• 1339 – The adjective blese “with a blaze” is used of a stallion in Flanders.^[4]
• 1570 – A cow with a spot is called a blesgen.^[2]
• 1573 – Blesse is used for the forelock of a horse.^[2]
• 1599 – Kiliaan records blesse “bald forehead” and the adjective bles “bald”.^[5]
• 1639 – English blaze “white mark on an animal's face” is first recorded.^[6]
• 1731 – Bles is used for a horse with a blaze.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A blaze: a long white stripe down the face of a horse, running to the nostrils.^[14][15][1]
2. A similar white stripe on the face of a cow or sheep.^[14]
3. A horse, cow or sheep with such a mark.^[14][15]
4. A lock of hair hanging slantwise over the forehead, a side fringe.^[14][2]
5. The soft split tip of a hog's bristle, as used in brushes.^[14][16]

Word family

• blessen
• blesbok

Related words

• blaar
• blaken
• German Blesse

Usage notes

The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal describes a bles as larger than a kol.^[2] When it means the horse, the word was treated as masculine.^[2] In East Flemish bles(se) can also mean the parting of the hair.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
3. ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
4. ^ a b c d Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
6. ^ a b c d e f g Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b Debrabandere, Frans (2005), Oost-Vlaams en Zeeuws-Vlaams etymologisch woordenboek, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Atlas
9. ^ a b c Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
10. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 75
11. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
12. ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2010), Brabants etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de woordenschat van Antwerpen, Brussel, Noord-Brabant en Vlaams-Brabant, Zwolle: Wbooks
13. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
14. ^ a b c d e Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
15. ^ a b Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
16. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org