Etymograph

English

blaze

Blaze comes from Old English blæse ‘firebrand, torch, lamp, flame’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to shine, be white’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-1‘to shine, be white’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blasǭ1‘torch’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blasā1‘blaze, flame’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150blæse1‘firebrand, torch, lamp, flame’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blase1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602blaze1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English blaze
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “his blaze of wrath”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-Wiktionary, English blaze‘to shine, be white’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blasǭWiktionary, English blaze‘torch’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blasāWiktionary, English blaze‘blaze, flame’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150blæseWiktionary, English blaze‘firebrand, torch, lamp, flame’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blaseWiktionary, English blaze
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602blazeWiktionary, English blaze. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “his blaze of wrath”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to shine, be white’

ball, bowl, bell, bull, bold, bald, boil, flame, bale, blizzard, bolster, blush, bleach, budge, blur, sabha, blemish, phlegm, phallus, bolero, phlox, bola, blithe, bleat, blain, 72 more

Another origin of blaze

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blase‘torch’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blasen‘to blaze’
  3. Englishtodayblaze

Another origin of blaze

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-‘shiny, white’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blasaz‘white, pale (of animals)’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blasį̄‘blaze, white marking on the forehead’uncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blasī‘blaze, white marking on the forehead’uncertain
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500blasseuncertain
  6. Dutchc. 1500–presentblesuncertain
  7. Englishtodayblaze

The verb is from the noun.

Another origin of blaze

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēsaną‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blāsan‘to blow’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*blǣsan‘to blow’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blasen‘to blow’
  5. Englishtodayblaze

Today it means

noun A fire, especially a fast-burning fire producing a lot of flames and light.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “blaze”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- / blaze

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