The story
- Latin · derived fromblatiō“speak like a fool, prate”
- Scots · derived fromblaitand“bleating”
- English todayblatant
Coined by Edmund Spenser in 1596 in "blatant beast". Probably a variation of *blatand (Scots blaitand (“bleating”)), present participle of blate, a variation of bleat, equivalent to blate + -ant. See bleat. In addition, it is suggested by Latin blatiō (“speak like a fool, prate”), which is rare, and so the similitude may be just coincidental. Compare typologically Bulgarian вопиющ (vopijušt), Russian вопию́щий (vopijúščij) (akin to вопи́ть (vopítʹ)).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.