Bleicherode -> (Blicero) -> Blicker?

[jbor at bigpond.com]

On 01/12/2005 Michael J. Hußmann wrote:

> [...]
> Again, the "Early German nickname" is probably Pynchon's invention. 
> Just
> like the Zone in GR is not (intended as) a realistic picture of 
> Germany,
> Pynchon's made-up Early German isn't safe to use in any real world
> etymologies.
>
> The problem with the sequence of "Blicker, Bleicheröde, Bleacher,
> Blicero" is that "Bleicherode" isn't "Bleicher-ode" but "Bleiche-rode"
> -- "-rode" is a common element of place names referring to
> deforestation. Enzian may have been entitled to see a connection here,
> but we are not.

Thanks for the correction and explanation re. "sterblich". Pynchon's 
German in GR is often pointed out as being flawed.

Nevertheless, it's the bleich/blick morpheme that connects the series 
of words. The -er (and -ero) suffix merely adds the sense of "person 
who", as in "sing-er",  for example. I think there's enough of an 
etymological link between the Germanic roots of the words "bleach" 
("blaikjan", from Old Norse "bleikja"), "bleak" ("blaikaz", from Old 
High German "bleicha" and Old Norse "bleikr"), and "blank" (Gmc 
"blankaz"), all deriving from Gmc "blaik-" (white), to cut Pynchon some 
slack.

And, interestingly, the words blitzkreig and blaze (and conflagration) 
seem to derive from the same root as well:

http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/roots/zzb01700.html

So, apart from the lack of a specific documentation, the idea of 
"Death" personified as "The Bleacher" or "The Bleak" by people living 
in cold northern climes doesn't seem too far-fetched at all:

"And Enzian's found the name Bleicheröde close enough to 'Blicker,' the 
nickname the early Germans gave to Death. They saw him white bleaching 
and blankness. The name was later Latinized to 'Dominus Blicero'. 
[...]" (322)

best