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Origin and history of blame

blame(v.)

c. 1200, "find fault with" (opposed to praise, commend); c. 1300, "lay responsibility on for something deemed wrong," from Old French blasmer (12c., Modern French blâmer) "to rebuke, reprimand, condemn, criticize," from Vulgar Latin *blastemare, from Late Latin blasphemare "to blaspheme, to speak lightly or amiss of God or sacred things," which also had a sense of "revile, reproach" (see blaspheme). Replaced Old English witan (with long "i"). Related: Blamed; blaming.

blame(n.)

early 13c., "an act or expression of disapproval, rebuke, etc., for something deemed wrong;" mid-14c., "responsibility for something that is wrong, culpability," from Old French blasme "blame, reproach; condemnation," a back-formation from blasmer "to rebuke" (see blame (v.)).

also from early 13c.

Entries linking to blame

blamed(adv.)

"confoundedly" 1833, later also as an adjective (1840), from past participle of blame (v.), as a "euphemistic evasion of the horrible word damn." [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848].

This adjective 'blamed' is the virtuous oath by which simple people, who are improving their habits, cure themselves of a stronger epithet. [Edward Everett Hale, "If, Yes, and Perhaps," 1868]

Compare also blamenation (1837) as an expletive. The imprecation blame me is attested from 1830.

blaspheme(v.)

"to speak impiously or irreverently of God and sacred things," mid-14c., blasfemen, from Old French blasfemer "to blaspheme" (14c., Modern French blasphémer), from Church Latin blasphemare (which in Late Latin also meant "revile, reproach," hence blame (v.)), from Greek blasphēmein "to speak lightly or amiss of sacred things, to slander," from blasphēmos "evil-speaking" (see blasphemy).

A classical reintroduction in English after the original word, taken from vernacular Old French, had been worn down and sense-shifted to blame. Related: Blasphemed; blasphemer; blaspheming.

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Trends of blame

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

More to explore

absolve
early 15c., "release" (from an oath or obligation), from Latin absolvere "set free," especially judicially, "acquit" (source also of Old French assoldre (11c.), Modern French absoudre), from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + solvere "to loosen, untie, release, remove," from PIE *se
fault
late 13c., faute, "deficiency," from Old French faute, earlier falte, "opening, gap; failure, flaw, blemish; lack, deficiency" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *fallita "a shortcoming, falling," from Latin falsus "deceptive, feigned, spurious," past participle of fallere "deceive, disap
pick
early 13c., picken "to peck;" c. 1300, piken "to work with a pick, to dig up," probably representing a fusion of Old English *pician "to prick," (implied by picung "a piercing, pricking," an 8c. gloss on Latin stigmata) with Old Norse pikka "to prick, peck," both from a Germanic
reproach
14c., reprochen, "charge with a fault, censure severely," from Anglo-French repruchier, Old French reprochier "upbraid, blame..., accuse, speak ill of," from reproche "blame, shame, disgrace" (see reproach (n.))....To reproach a person is to lay blame upon him in direct address, and with feeling, to endeavor to shame him with what he...
culpable
blameworthy," late 13c., coupable, from Old French coupable (12c., Modern French coupable), from Latin culpabilis "worthy of blame...," from culpare "to blame," from culpa "crime, fault, blame, guilt, error."...
accuse
c. 1300, "charge (with an offense, fault, error, etc.), impugn, blame," from Old French acuser "to accuse, indict, reproach..., blame" (13c., Modern French accuser), earlier "announce, report, disclose" (12c.), or directly from Latin accusare "to...call to account, make complaint against, reproach, blame; bring to trial, prosecute, arraign indict," from the phrase ad...
rate
"to scold, chide vehemently, rebuke," late 14c., raten, probably from Old French rateir, variant of reter "to impute blame..., accuse, find fault with," from Latin reputare "to count over, reflect," in Vulgar Latin, "to impute, blame," from re- "...Old French reter also was borrowed into Middle English as retten "to blame" (c. 1300); also "to attribute, impute" (late...
attribute
late 14c., "assign, bestow," from Latin attributus, past participle of attribuere "assign to, allot, commit, entrust;" figuratively "to attribute, ascribe, impute," from assimilated form of ad "to" (see ad-) + tribuere "assign, give, bestow" (see tribute). Related: Attributed; at
charge
early 13c., chargen, "to load, put a burden on or in; fill with something to be retained," from Old French chargier "to load, burden, weigh down," from Late Latin carricare "to load a wagon or cart," from Latin carrus "two-wheeled wagon" (see car). The senses of "entrust," "comma
rap
early 14c., rappe, "a quick, light blow; a resounding stroke," also "a fart" (late 15c.), native or borrowed from a Scandinavian source (compare Danish rap, Swedish rapp "light blow"); either way probably of imitative origin (compare slap, clap). Slang meaning "a rebuke, the blam

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