Etymograph

English

blende

Blende comes from German Blende ‘sun visor’, from blenden ‘deceive’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ- ‘to blend, to mix up’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰlendʰ-‘to blend, to mix up’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blandijaną‘to blind’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050blenten
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350blenden
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentblenden‘deceive’
  6. German, derivedc. 1650–presentBlende‘sun visor’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2006blende

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰlendʰ-‘to blend, to mix up’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blandijaną‘to blind’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050blenten
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350blenden
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentblenden‘deceive’
  6. German, derivedc. 1650–presentBlende‘sun visor’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2006blende

Earliest quotation: 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day: “The procedure up here with ordinary local zinc blende…”.

The story

From German Blende, from blenden (‘deceive’) (because it resembles galena).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ- ‘to blend, to mix up’

blind, blond, bland, 8 more

Today it means

noun sphalerite (a naturally-occurring sulfide of zinc)

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ- / blende

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