At 8:38:18 AM on Friday, February 19, 2010, Patti (Wilson)
wrote:

> <<<Here's the discussion in Fritzner:

> blæja, (eller blægja), >>>

> This was particularly helpful, because I had been thinking
> since this discussion started

> could this also be related to the modern Englisn "blanket"
> that has been in use for centuries

No, <blanket> is a borrowing of Old French <blankete>, a
diminutive of <blanc> 'white'. It first appears in Middle
English around 1300, with the meaning 'a kind of woolen
cloth (often white or undyed)'. Old French <blanc> and its
Romance cognates (e.g., Spanish <blanco> and Italian
<bianco>) are from an early borrowing of a Germanic
adjective meaning 'white, shining', something like *blankaz
or *blenkaz; this is the source of ON <blakkr> 'pale,
dun-colored; matte black'. ON <blæja>, on the other hand,
is from a Germanic *blahjô- or the like. Any relationship
between the two words would be exceedingly remote, if it
existed at all.

Brian