Etymology: < bless v.¹; but perhaps confused with bliss n.

Etymology: Old English blóedsian , blédsian , blétsian : not found elsewhere in Germanic, but formed on the Germanic type *blôdisôjan , < *blôdo-m (Old English blód ) blood: compare Old English mildsian , miltsian , Middle English milce v., to be mild , show pity; also, for the formation, Old English rícsian to rule = Old High German rîchisôn < Germanic *rîkisôjan , < *rîk-s , Gothic reiks ruler, king. (An equally satisfactory derivation of blétsian , if it were the original form, would be < blót sacrifice, on Germanic type *blôtisôjan ; but besides that blóedsian actually occurs earlier, the change of ds to ts is phonetically natural, while the reverse is not.) The etymological meaning was thus ‘to mark (or affect in some way) with blood (or sacrifice); to consecrate’. But the sense-development of the word was greatly influenced by its having been chosen at the English conversion to render Latin benedīcere , and Greek εὐλογεῖν , which started from a primitive sense of ‘speak well of or to, eulogize, praise,’ but were themselves influenced by being chosen to translate Hebrew brk , primarily ‘to bend,’ hence ‘to bend the knee, worship, praise, bless God, invoke blessings on, bless as a deity.’ Hence, a long and varied series of associations, heathen, Jewish, and Christian, blend in the English uses of bless and blessing . Senses 4 – 6 arise mainly < benedīcere , εὐλογεῖν . At a very early date the popular etymological consciousness began to associate this verb with bliss v. ‘benignity, blitheness, joy, happiness,’ which affected the use of both words (see especially senses 7, 8), and led to occasional Middle English spelling of the verb with i, y. The past tense and participle are now generally spelt blessed, though always pronounced /blɛst/ in modern prose; the participle may be pronounced /ˈblɛsɪd/ in verse, or liturgical reading. As an adjective blessed /ˈblɛsɪd/ is now the regular prose form, but the archaic blest is frequent in verse, and traditional phrases as e.g. ‘the Isles of the Blest.’

Etymology: < French blesse-r < Old French blecier to injure, wound: compare bleche v. Often associated with bless v.¹, either humorously or in ignorance. (The sense of the second quotation is doubtful: compare bless v.³)

Etymology: Much affected by Spenser: perhaps taken from such a use as that quoted from William of Palerne under bless v.²; perhaps, as others think, ‘to flourish as in making the sign of the cross’: compare bless v.¹ 2 (quot. ?c1225), also 3a (quot. 1590). In any case it can hardly be an independent word.