Etymology: < the name of Lyman Blake, the inventor of a sewing machine for boots and shoes.

Etymology: Chiefly northern: probably therefore, since Old English á remained in the north as ā (e.g. ake , stane , mare ), blake was the direct phonetic descendant of Old English blác pale (in early southern Middle English bloc , bloke adj.), a common Germanic adjective = Old Saxon blêc , Old Norse bleikr , Old High German bleih , Germanic *blaiko-z shining, white, pale, < root of blîkan to shine, blik n. Compare the synonyms bleak n., bleyke adj., bloke adj. In English the notion of ‘shining,’ i.e. white from excess of light, passed entirely into that of ‘pale,’ i.e. white from deficiency of colour, dead white. This added to the formal confusion with black n., since ‘dark’ and ‘pale’ alike express deficiency or loss of colour.

Etymology: Middle English blāke(n , was apparently the northern representation of Old English blácian to become pale, < blác shining, white, pale: see blake adj. The normal southern form would have been blokien , bloke(n , of which there are a few 13th cent. instances: see bloke v. In spelling, this verb was confounded with blăkien , blăken to grow black or dark (see black v.); and at length became obsolete, its place being taken by bleyke(n , bleike(n from Old Norse and by the cognate bleke(n and bleach v.¹