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blând

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word blând

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1500–1520 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki More words from the 15th century
Inherited from
Latin blandus
Ultimate origin
Latin blandus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin blandus
Romanian blând
English bland
Derivations
From the same root
Latin blandē ← blandus
Latin blandior ← blandus
Latin blanditia ← blandus

Pronunciation

Forms

blând m or n (feminine singular blândă, masculine plural blânzi, feminine/neuter plural blânde)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin blandus (“flattering, charming, seductive”).[2][3][4][5][6][1] De Vaan calls the origin of the Latin word uncertain.[7]

Only nouns for a skin rash survive south of the Danube: Aromanian blãndã and Megleno-Romanian blǫndă.[3][8][9][10] Papahagi takes the Aromanian noun from the Latin feminine blanda.[8] The Romance cognates include Old French blant, Occitan blan, Spanish blando and Portuguese brando.[3][11]

The Romanian noun blândă “nettle rash” is the feminine adjective used as a noun, a euphemism.[2] Byhan derived it from Slavonic, which would make it the same word as bolând.[3] Most scholars instead take the Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian words for a rash from Romanian.[3] BER derives Bulgarian блънда (blănda) “blister” from Romanian.[12]

Tiktin, Candrea–Densusianu, the DA and the REW take blândețe from blanditia.[2] Ciorănescu and DEX make it a Romanian formation on blând.[2][3] Ciorănescu also rejects Pușcariu's Latin *blandiō for îmblânzi and calls it a Romanian formation.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500–1520), which also has the noun blândețe.[2] MDA2 gives the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).[4] There it speaks of servants who obey not only good and gentle masters (bunilor și blânzilor).[13] Tiktin records the personal name Blândul in 1519.[6]

Semantic evolution

Of things, the word means pleasant like a caress, the opposite of harsh: a mild look, a gentle wind.[13] Of people, it means kind and peaceable, the opposite of violent or severe; of animals, tame.[13][6] Coresi has the old adverbial phrase cu blând “gently”.[13] The figurative sense “mild” is used of weather and nature.[5]

Proverbs use the word: Mâța blândă zgârie rău “the gentle cat scratches hard” and Mielul blând suge la două oi “the meek lamb sucks from two ewes”.[6][14] The noun blândă “nettle rash” is first recorded in 1776.[2] MDA2 also records it for a swelling from an insect sting, and for a peasant dance and its tune.[4] The diminutives are recent: blândișor (1836), blândicel (1840), blânduț (1872) and the Transylvanian blândoc (1889).[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1500-1520 – blând and blândețe in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.[2]
  • 1519 – the personal name Blândul.[6]
  • c. 1563-1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.[4][13]
  • 1570 – blînd in Coresi's psalter (Psalm 85:4).[15]
  • 1691 – the verb blânzi “to tame”.[2]
  • 1776 – the noun blândă “nettle rash”.[2]
  • 1836 – blândișor.[2]
  • 1889 – the Transylvanian blândoc.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. kind, gentle, peaceable; of acts and feelings, showing kindness: un zâmbet blând.[5][1]
  2. (of animals) tame, harmless, not shy of people.[5][1]
  3. (figurative, of weather or nature) mild, not harsh, pleasant: o iarnă blândă.[5][16]

Noun

  1. (popular) urticaria, nettle rash.[5][4]
  2. (popular) A swelling from an insect sting.[4]
  3. A peasant dance, and the tune it is danced to.[4]

Word family

  • blândă
  • blândețe
  • blândicel
  • blândișor
  • blândoc
  • blânduț
  • blânzie
  • îmblânzi
  • îmblânzitor
  • neîmblânzit

Usage notes

Șezi blând or stai blând means “sit still, keep quiet”.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. blând
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. blând
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 215
  5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 108
  6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. blând
  7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 214
  9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 202
  10. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 88
  11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1151
  12. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 58
  13. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. blând
  14. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. blând
  15. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 85:4
  16. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 84

Related etymologies

  • apă · also from Latin
  • bun · also from Latin
  • unde · also from Latin
  • veni · also from Latin
  • noi · also from Latin
  • bine · also from Latin
  • un · also from Latin
  • și · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Blând.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/bl%C3%A2nd. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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