The Blank

[Dave Monroe]

bhel
DEFINITION: To shine, flash, burn; shining white and
various bright colors.

Derivatives include blue, bleach, blind, blond,
blanket, black, flagrant, and flame.
   I. Suffixed full-grade form *bhel-o-. 1a. beluga,
from Russian bely, white; b. Beltane, from Scottish
Gaelic bealltainn, from Old Irish beltaine, "fire of
Bel" (ten, tene, fire; see tep-), from Bel, name of a
pagan Irish deity akin to the Gaulish divine name
Belenos, from Celtic *bel-o-. 2. phalarope, from Greek
phalaros, having a white spot. 
   II. Extended root *bhle-, contracted to *bhl-. 1.
Suffixed form *bhl-wo-. blue, from Old French bleu,
blue, from Germanic *blwaz, blue. 2. Suffixed
zero-grade form *bh-wo-. flavescent, flavo-; flavin,
flavone, flavoprotein, from Latin flvus, golden or
reddish yellow.
   III. Various extended Germanic forms. 1. bleach,
from Old English blcan, to bleach, from Germanic
*blaikjan, to make white. 2. bleak1, from Old Norse
bleikr, shining, white, from Germanic *blaikaz,
shining, white. 3. blitzkrieg, from Old High German
blëcchazzen, to flash, lighten, from Germanic
*blikkatjan. 4a. blaze1, from Old English blæse,
torch, bright fire; b. blesbok, from Middle Dutch
bles, white spot; c. blemish, from Old French 
ble(s)mir, to make pale.

a-c all from Germanic *blas-, shining, white. 5a.
blind; blindfold, purblind, from Old English blind,
blind; b. blende, from Old High German blentan, to
blind, deceive; c. blend, from Old Norse blanda, to
mix; d. blond, from Old French blond, blond. a-d all
from Germanic *blendaz, clouded, and *bland-,
*bland-ja-, to mix, mingle (< "make cloudy"). 6a.
blench, from Old English blencan, to deceive; b.
blanch, blank, blanket; blancmange, from Old French
blanc, white. Both a and b from Germanic *blenk-,
*blank-, to shine, dazzle, blind. 7. blush, from Old
English
blyscan, to glow red, from Germanic *blisk-, to shine,
burn.
   IV. Extended root *bhleg-, to shine, flash, burn.
1. O-grade form bhlog-. black, from Old English blæc,
black, from Germanic *blakaz, burned. 2. Zero-grade
form *bhg-. a. fulgent, fulgurate; effulgent,
foudroyant, refulgent, from Latin fulgre, to flash,
shine, and fulgur, lightning; b. fulminate, from Latin
fulmen (< *fulg-men), lightning, thunderbolt. 3a.
flagrant; conflagrant, conflagration, deflagrate, from
Latin flagrre, to blaze; b. chamise, flambé, flambeau,
flamboyant, flame, flamingo, flammable; inflame, from
Latin flamma (< *flag-ma), a flame. 4. phlegm,
phlegmatic, Phlegethon, from Greek phlegein, to burn.
5. O-grade form *bhlog-. phlogiston, phlox;
phlogopite, from Greek phlox, a flame, also a
wallflower. (Pokorny 1. bhel- 118, bheleg- 124,
bhleu-(k)- 159.)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0308&msg=84118

--- Dave Monroe <monropolitan at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From Harold Bloom, The Breaking of the Vessels
> (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1982), Ch. 3,
> "Transumption," pp. 73-107 ...
> 
> "... black and blank have the same root, bhel, to
> shine or flash, which became in its various forms
> what Freud called antithetical primal words.  The
> fire which burned to a white flame and left a white
> mark left also a black ash.  White and black, blank
> and flame ..." (p. 79)
> 
> Cf., e.g., ...
>
http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/alpha/b.html#blicero
> http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/alpha/w.html#weissmann

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