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Origin and history of bold

bold(adj.)

Middle English bold, from Old English beald (West Saxon), bald (Anglian) "stout-hearted, brave, confident, strong," from Proto-Germanic *balthaz (source also of Old High German bald "bold, swift," in names such as Archibald, Leopold, Theobald; Gothic balþei "boldness;" Old Norse ballr "frightful, dangerous"), perhaps (Watkins) from PIE *bhol-to-, suffixed form of root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell."

The meaning "requiring or exhibiting courage" is from mid-13c. Also in a bad sense, "audacious, presumptuous, overstepping usual bounds" (c. 1200). From 1670s as "standing out to view, striking the eye." Of flavors (coffee, etc.) from 1829.

The noun meaning "those who are bold" is from c. 1300 in both admiring and disparaging senses. Old French and Provençal baut "bold," Italian baldo "bold, daring, fearless" are Germanic loan-words. Related: Boldly; boldness.

Entries linking to bold

Archibald

masc. proper name, from Old High German Erchanbald, literally "genuine-bold," from erchan "genuine" + bald (see bold). Archie, British World War I military slang for "German anti-aircraft fire" or the guns that produce it (1915) is said in contemporary sources to be from the airmen dodging hostile fire and thinking of the refrain of a then-popular music hall song.

It's no use me denying facts, I'm henpecked, you can see!
'Twas on our wedding day my wife commenced to peck at me
The wedding breakfast over, I said, "We'll start off today
Upon our honeymoon."
Then she yelled, "What! waste time that way?"
[chorus] "Archibald, certainly not!
Get back to work at once, sir, like a shot.
When single you could waste time spooning
But lose work now for honeymooning!
Archibald, certainly not!"
[John L. St. John & Alfred Glover, "Archibald, Certainly Not"]
Baldwin

masc. proper name, from Old French Baldoin (Modern French Baudouin), from a Germanic source similar to Old High German Baldawin, literally "bold friend," from bald "bold" (see bold) + wini "friend" (see win (v.)). A popular Flemish name, common in England before and after the Conquest.

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Trends of bold

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

bawd
a complicated word of uncertain history. It is attested from late 15c. in the sense "lewd person" (of either sex, but since c. 1700 applied exclusively to women); probably [Middle English Compendium] from Old French baud "gay, licentious" (from Frankish *bald "bold" or some such
bluff
1839, "to deceive (opponents), especially by betting heavily and with a confident air on a worthless hand to make them 'fold,'" an American English poker term, perhaps from Dutch bluffen "to brag, boast," or verbluffen "to baffle, mislead." The general sense "use a show of confid
sheer
c. 1200, "exempt, free from guilt" (as in Sheer Thursday, the Thursday of Holy Week, the day before the Crucifixion); later schiere "thin, sparse" (c. 1400), a variant of skere, from late Old English scir "bright, clear, gleaming; translucent; pure, unmixed." The Middle English w
audacious
daring," from French audacieux, from audace "boldness," from Latin audacia "daring, boldness, courage," from audax "brave, bold..., daring," but more often "bold" in a bad sense, "rash, foolhardy," from audere "to dare, be bold," which de Vaan says is...
hardy
c. 1200, "bold, daring, fearless," also "presumptuous, audacious," from Old French hardi "bold, brave, courageous; confident..., presumptuous," from past participle of hardir "to harden, be or make bold," from Frankish *hardjan "to make hard" (source...
dare
Middle English durren, daren, from first and third person singular of Old English durran "be bold enough, have courage" (...source also of Old Norse dearr, Old High German giturran, Gothic gadaursan), according to Watkins from PIE root *dhers- "bold..." (source also of Sanskrit dadharsha "to be bold;" Old Persian darš- "to dare;" Greek thrasys "bold," tharsos "confidence..., courage, audacity;" Old Church Slavonic druzate "to be bold, dare;" Lithuanian drįsti "to dare," drąsus "courageous")....
Bernard
masc. proper name, from German Bernhard, literally "bold as a bear," from Old High German bero "bear" (see bear (n.)) + harti..."hard, bold, strong" (from PIE root *kar- "hard")....
case
early 13c., "what befalls one; state of affairs," from Old French cas "an event, happening, situation, quarrel, trial," from Latin casus "a chance, occasion, opportunity; accident, mishap," literally "a falling," from cas-, past-participle stem of cadere "to fall, sink, settle do
font
"water basin," especially used in baptism, late Old English, from Latin fons (genitive fontis) "fountain" (see fountain), especially in Medieval Latin fons baptismalis "baptismal font." The word is sometimes used poetically for "a fountain; a source."..."complete set of character
cafe
"coffee-house, restaurant," 1802, from French café "coffee, coffeehouse," from Italian caffe "coffee" (see coffee). The beverage was introduced in Venice by 1615 and in France by 1650s by merchants and travelers who had been to Turkey and Egypt. The first public European café mig

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