{"id":20986,"date":"2021-05-19T14:56:02","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T14:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20986"},"modified":"2021-05-19T14:56:04","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T14:56:04","slug":"blithely-blithesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20986","title":{"rendered":"Blithely Blithesome"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Dutch word <strong>blij<\/strong> [bl\u025bi] means happy, glad, pleased or delighted. It comes from the Middle Dutch <em>blide<\/em> (happy, cheerful, joyous), from the Old Dutch <em>*bl\u012bthi<\/em> (calm, happy), from the Proto-West Germanic <em>*bl\u012b\u00fe\u012b<\/em> (happy), from the Proto-Germanic <em>*bl\u012b\u00feiz<\/em> (serene, mild, pleasant, pleasing, delightful, friendly), from Proto-Indo-European <em>*b\u02b0l\u012b-<\/em> (light, fine, pleasant) from <em>*b\u02b0leh\u2081-\/*b\u02b0el-<\/em> (to shine) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/blij\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ginz\/48851461483\/in\/photolist-2hqQvxi-73H9pi-9ReF1K-btQwNN-2bJEppK-7XrzeE-8kqgMF-8ktsYf-8ktsRm-hqVh1L-VrB5qV-8kttcQ-HfCE3y-278Vfi3-8kqgDc-2jF3VRZ-kmFem-aeUdKz-51ygHa-8FFcvD-bBX7wn-e3GS4j-qP7yyG-f8fsTo-3fVJqm-p6sLF-51ygH6-SbPnBU-dMgYru-perBY1-7Hbdk1-ZYjEUQ-a2KWoQ-89m2x1-5sUBcu-iZ61Pk-f81jP6-8G5DEn-f9tgje-ncD6S9-a1mSF2-J7Fmn-64Phcg-4Yc6iU-8Y7qAF-dhjuNy-atG21B-5rXXPb-e3azq-5rTBm2\" title=\"Blij ei\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48851461483_f26c592514_z.jpg\" alt=\"Blij ei\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/a><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Here are some related words and examples of how it\u2019s used (from <a href=\"https:\/\/en.bab.la\/dictionary\/dutch-english\/blij\">bab.la<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/context.reverso.net\/translation\/dutch-english\/blij\">Reverso<\/a>):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>blijdschap = joy, gladness<\/li>\n<li>verblijden = to gladden, delight<\/li>\n<li>blij zijn = to be glad, rejoice, enjoy, be happy<\/li>\n<li>blij maken = to gladden, cheer up<\/li>\n<li>heel blij zijn = to burst with joy<\/li>\n<li>blij zijn met een dode mus = to get all excited about nothing (\u201cto be happy with a dead mouse\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Ik ben blij dat je ervan zult genieten = I\u2019m glad you\u2019ll enjoy it<\/li>\n<li>Ik ben blij je eindelijk te ontmoeten = I&#8217;m pleased to finally meet you<\/li>\n<li>Niet iedereen zal hiermee blij zijn = Not everyone is going to be happy with this<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Words from the same root include the Swedish word <strong>blid<\/strong> [bli\u02d0d] (mild, kind), the Danish word <strong>blid<\/strong> [\u02c8bli\u00f0\u02c0] (gentle) and the word <strong>bl\u00ed\u00f0ur<\/strong>, which means kind, obliging, mild, tender, affable, friendly or  good-natured in Icelandic, and hospitable, hearty, friendly, sincere, pleased, mild or smooth in Faroese [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic\/bl%C4%AB%C3%BEiz\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The English word <strong>blithe<\/strong> [bla\u026a\u00f0 \/ bla\u026a\u03b8] also comes from the same root, via the Middle English <em>blithe<\/em> (glad, happy, joyful; gentle, mild; gracious, merciful; bright, shining; beautiful, fair), and the Old English <em>bli\u00fee<\/em> [\u02c8bli\u02d0.\u03b8e\/\u02c8bli\u02d0.\u00f0e] (happy, gentle) (to shine) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/blithe\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>It means carefree and lighthearted, or very happy or cheerful, and also lacking or showing a lack of due concern, heedless, casual and indifferent [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefreedictionary.com\/blithe\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>It tends to be used in certain expressions, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He spoke with <strong>blithe ignorance<\/strong> of the true situation.<\/li>\n<li>She had a <strong>blithe disregard<\/strong> for their feelings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some related (and rarely-used) words include <strong>blitheful<\/strong> (joyous), <strong>blitheless<\/strong> (sorrowful, sad, pitiful, miserable, wretched), <strong>blithely<\/strong> (without care, concern or consideration; or in a joyful, carefree manner), <strong>blithen<\/strong> (to be(come) happy), and <strong>blithesome<\/strong> (happy or spriteful, carefree).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blithe<\/strong> [bl\u0259i\u00f0] is more commonly used in Scottish English and in Scots, and means joyous, cheerful, happy, glad or well-pleased. A related word, used particularly in Orkney and Shetland, is <strong>blithemeat<\/strong>, which is a thanksgiving feast after the birth of a child [<a href=\"https:\/\/dsl.ac.uk\/entry\/snd\/blithe\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In Shetland <strong>blithe<\/strong> is written <strong>blyde<\/strong> and means glad. Here are the <a href=\"https:\/\/blydelasses.wordpress.com\/\">Blyde Lasses<\/a>, a folk duo from Shetland:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NxWx9Nsb988\" title=\"YouTube video player\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dutch word blij [bl\u025bi] means happy, glad, pleased or delighted. It comes from the Middle Dutch blide (happy, cheerful, joyous), from the Old Dutch *bl\u012bthi (calm, happy), from the Proto-West Germanic *bl\u012b\u00fe\u012b (happy), from the Proto-Germanic *bl\u012b\u00feiz (serene, mild, pleasant, pleasing, delightful, friendly), from Proto-Indo-European *b\u02b0l\u012b- (light, fine, pleasant) from *b\u02b0leh\u2081-\/*b\u02b0el- (to shine) [source]. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,102,104,107,108,124,10,26,33,44,45,202,55,67,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-danish","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-faroese","category-icelandic","category-language","category-middle-english","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-proto-west-germanic","category-scots","category-swedish","category-words-and-phrases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20986"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20995,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20986\/revisions\/20995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}