Etymograph

English

blind

Blind comes from Middle English blynd ‘blind, sightless’, from Proto-Germanic *blandaną ‘to blend, mix’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰlendʰ-‘to blend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blandaną‘to blend’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blindazreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blindreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150blind
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blynd‘blind’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1595blind

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰlendʰ-‘to blend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blandaną‘to blend’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blindazreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blindreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150blind
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blynd‘blind’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1595blind

Earliest quotation: c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet: “He that is strucken blind cannot forget / The…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ- ‘to blend’

blond, 8 more

through Proto-Germanic *blandaną ‘to blend, mix’

blend, bland, 3 more

Today it means

adj Unable to see, or only partially able to see.

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

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

Shirt and support for this word