Etymology

blitheness

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Today it means: The characteristic of being blithe. Full definition →

Middle English *blithenesse ← Old English blīþnes ← Proto-West Germanic *blīþinassī
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*blīþinassī
  2. Old English · inherited fromblīþnes
  3. Middle English · inherited from*blithenesse
  4. English todayblitheness

From Middle English *blithenesse, from Old English blīþnes, from Proto-West Germanic *blīþinassī, equivalent to blithe + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian blidens (“blitheness, joy”), Old High German blīdnissa (“joy”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.