blond(adj.)
“金色或浅金棕色的头发”,15世纪晚期,源自古法语 blont “公平的,金发的”(12世纪),源自与中世纪拉丁语 blundus “黄色”相同的来源,但起源不确定。可能源自法兰克语 *blund 或其他日耳曼语源(比较荷兰语、德语、丹麦语 blond)。
如果这是一个日耳曼语词,它可能与古英语 blonden-feax “灰发”的相关,源自 blondan, blandan “混合”(参见 blend(v.))。根据 Littré的说法,法语单词的原始意思是“介于金色和浅栗色之间的颜色”,这可能解释了“混合”的概念。[但是,Century Dictionary 认为这“几乎不可能”。]
古英语 beblonden 的意思是“染色的”,因此,如果 blonde 是日耳曼语,其根本含义可能是“染色的”,因为古代日耳曼战士以染发而闻名。然而,Du Cange 写道, blundus 是拉丁语 flavus “黄色”的俗语发音。另一个猜测(被德国语言学家所否定)是它代表了一种源自俗拉丁语 *albundus 的词,源自 alba “白色”。
这个词在17世纪从法语重新引入英语,并一直被视为法语,因此女性用 blonde(带有法语女性后缀)。据说意大利语 biondo,西班牙语 blondo,古普罗旺斯语 blon 最终源自日耳曼语。
Fair hair was much esteemed by both the Greeks and Romans, and so they not only dyed and gold-dusted theirs ..., but also went so far as to gild the hair of their statues, as notably those of Venus de Medici and Apollo. In the time of Ovid (A.U.C. 711) much fair hair was imported from Germany, by the Romans, as it was considered quite the fashionable color. Those Roman ladies who did not choose to wear wigs of this hue, were accustomed to powder theirs freely with gold dust, so as to give it the fashionable yellow tint. [C. Henry Leonard, "The Hair," 1879]
金发在希腊和罗马人中非常受欢迎,因此他们不仅染发和撒金粉……,而且还将他们的雕像的头发镀金,尤其是美第奇的维纳斯和阿波罗。在奥维德(A.U.C. 711)时代,罗马人从德国进口了许多金发,因为这被认为是时尚的颜色。那些罗马女士不想戴这种假发的,习惯于大量涂抹金粉,以赋予其时尚的黄色色调。[C. Henry Leonard,“头发”,1879]
该词起源时间:15世纪末