- blazon (n.)
- "coat of arms," late 13c., from Old French blason (12c.) "a shield, blazon," also "collar bone;" common Romanic (compare Spanish blason, Italian blasone, Portuguese brasao, Provençal blezo, the first two said to be French loan-words); of uncertain origin. OED doubts, on grounds of sense, the connection proposed by 19c. French etymologists to Germanic words related to English blaze (n.1).
- blazon (v.)
- 1560s, "to depict or paint (armorial bearings)," from blazon (n.) or else from French blasonner. Earlier as "to set forth decriptively" (1510s); especially "to vaunt or boast" (1530s), in this use probably from or influenced by blaze (v.2).
