blanda

Forms

blanda (singular past indicative blett, plural past indicative blendu, past participle blandinn) (strong)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *blandaną (“to mix, mingle”),^[1][2] a strong verb shared with Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (blandan), Old English blandan and Old High German blantan.^[2][3] Kroonen explains it as an o-grade intensive of Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ-, with the related Lithuanian blęsti (“to stir flour into soup, become cloudy”) and Old Church Slavonic блѧсти (blęsti, “to chatter, talk nonsense”); the first meaning was “to blend”, whence “to make murky”.^[2][1] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and Torp start from a root meaning “to be dim”, which links the verb with blindr (“blind”) and blundr (“doze”).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first dated in the Icelandic Homily Book, which ONP dates to 1200: nu tǫcom ver corpus domini. oc blǫndom ver licama orom viþ hold oc blóþ criz drotens “now we receive the body of the Lord, and we mix our bodies with the flesh and blood of Christ the Lord”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The old strong verb (present blendr, past blett, participle blandinn) gave way to weak forms (blandaði, blandaðr) in the thirteenth century, except in the participle blandinn, which stayed in use.^[7][8] Its earliest uses are religious: water mixed with wine at mass, poison mixed into a drink.^[6] From mixing drinks it came to mean brewing (blanda mjǫð);^[9] from mixing people it came to mean keeping company, as blanda mǫtuneyti við e-n “to share food with someone”, and the reflexive blandask við “to have intercourse with”, used in the laws of bestiality.^[6][10] The participle blandinn also meant “of doubtful character, unreliable”.^[11]

It continues as Icelandic blanda, Faroese blanda, Norwegian Nynorsk blanda, Swedish blanda and Danish blande.^[8]

Timeline

• 1200 – blǫndom ver “we mix” in the Icelandic Homily Book, by ONP's dating.^[6]
• 1212 – past blett and blendo of poisoning a drink, in Gregory's Dialogues.^[6]
• 1237 – weak blanda møtuneyti “share food”.^[6]
• 1265 – blandaðr “mixed”, the weak participle.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. to mix, blend one thing with another.^[6][12]
2. to prepare by mixing, to brew a drink.^[6][9]
3. blanda mǫtuneyti við e-n: to share food, keep company with someone.^[6][12]
4. (reflexive) to mix, mingle, get involved; to have sexual intercourse with.^[6][12]

Word family

• blandinn
• blendingr
• bland

Descendants

• Icelandic blanda^[1]
• Faroese blanda^[8]
• Norwegian Nynorsk blanda^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål blande^[1]
• Swedish blanda^[1]
• Danish blande^[1]

Related words

• blindr
• blundr

Usage notes

A noun blanda “mixture of two liquids”, above all whey mixed with water as a drink, stands beside the verb; it was also used as a nickname and is the name of a glacier river in the north of Iceland.^[7][9][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 66
3. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 47
4. ^ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. blanda
5. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 288
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. blanda
7. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 67
8. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 42
9. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. blanda
10. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 103
11. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 56
12. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. blanda