blate

The story

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*blauþuz“weak, timid, void, naked”
2. Old English · derived fromblēaþ“gentle, shy, cowardly, timid; slothful, inactive, effeminate”
3. Middle English · derived frombleth
4. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰleyd-“pale, pallid”
5. Proto-Germanic · derived from*blaitaz
6. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*blait“pale, discoloured”
7. Old English · derived fromblāt“pale, livid, ghastly”
8. Middle English · derived from*blate
9. Scots · borrowed fromblate“timid, sheepish”
10. English todayblate

Borrowed from Scots blate (“timid, sheepish”), apparently a conflation of: * Northern Middle English *blate, *blait (“pale, ghastly, terrified”), from Old English blāt (“pale, livid, ghastly”), from Proto-West Germanic *blait (“pale, discoloured”), from Proto-Germanic *blaitaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyd- (“pale, pallid”); * Middle English bleth, bleath (“timid, soft”), from Old English blēaþ (“gentle, shy, cowardly, timid; slothful, inactive, effeminate”), from Proto-Germanic *blauþuz (“weak, timid, void, naked”). Cognate with German blassen (“to make pale”), bleich (“pale, pallid”). More at bleak, bleach.