The Old Uses of Blond

The history of blond 'blond', particularly in the dialectal expression blond en blauw (instead of bont en blauw 'black & blue') is presented. Blond is used first to qualify skin color under conditions of internal hemorrhage, extends to frozen lips or nose, & then to anything of a similar color. Tarnished silver & copper are blond & by extension, discolored hands. Generally blond becomes 'discolored' or 'of the wrong color'. The expression blond en blauw is attested in the seventeenth century in the sense bont en blauw 'black & blue'. At the same time blond refers to golden yellow. In the Middle Ages, both blond & bont meant 'grey'. A survey by questionnaire was made to determine the geographic distribution of various uses of blond. It appears that it is equally distributed across ages, or city & country. A map of West Netherlands showing the repartition of various expressions involving blond is reproduced. It is hypothesized that the expression is not limited to West Netherlands. 1 Figure. A. Orianne