Michael Quinion’s excellent site contains many nuggets, amongst which I recently found his archived answer to the question “where does the expression point blank come from?”

“The blank here is the French word blanc, for the colour white. Archery and artillery targets conventionally had a white spot at the centre at which arrows and shot were aimed. So to point blank was to aim directly at the white. The phrase is known from the end of the sixteenth century, and the figurative sense had developed by the 1650s.
It came to refer particularly to missiles fired close enough to the target that they travelled straight to it, horizontally, with no time for the shot to seem to drop under gravity. You had to be close to the target for this to be true, so it came to mean firing at close range where it was difficult to miss.
Some have suggested that the whole phrase comes from the French point blanc, meaning a white mark, but the OED says firmly that the expression originated in English, and that blank as an English version of the French was in use some time before point-blank appeared. So it seems likely that point here is actually the verb, not the noun.

World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996-. All rights reserved. "

My question arises from this, and the chat in another thread about ‘verbifying’.
Are there other usages where a word seems to have been confused between noun and verb in this way?



PS: Personally, I still believe the phrase is far more likely to have crossed over the channel with the Norman archers, who might well have been trained to “tirer le point blanc”. Targets long predated the 16th century for sure; and the noun/verb position in the sentence screams it comes from French. Can someone with good OED access enlighten on the ‘firm’ nature of their research?

>Can someone with good OED access enlighten on the ‘firm’ nature of their research?

okay mav, here is the OED pronouncement in its entirety:

It has been conjectured that point-blank represents a F. *point blanc meaning the white point or white spot on the target, but no such use is found in Fr., or in any Romanic lang. The phrase appears exclusively of English origin and use; and there is no evidence that in Eng. the ‘blank’ or ‘white’ was ever called the point blank. The probability therefore is that blank is here the n. (blank n. 2), and point the vb. (point v.1 12a), referring to the pointing of the arrow or gun at the ‘blank’ or ‘white’; point-blank being a combination of the same class as break-neck, cut-throat, save-all, stop-gap, etc. It may have started as an adj., in point-blank shot, distance, reach, or range, i.e. that in which one points or aims at the blank or white spot.]

the first citation therein is from:
1591 Digges Pantom. 179 The first parte of the violent course of Gunners, commonly termed the peeces pointe blanke reache.

Bullseye/point blanc

Which brings up a point. I have never seen a target with a white bullseye. Visually, a white bullseye would be harder to focus on than a black one because the eye is attracted to the darker colour. Your eye would be drawn away from a white bullseye surrounded by a black circle.

Maybe I'm way off mark (ha) but, because of this, the first explanation just does not seem right.

Yes, in our country, targets also have black centres. I wonder about any connections between the expression "blank stare" and "point-blank", which might suggest speculatively, that shooting at point-blank range could mean shooting without the need to aim precisely.

thanks tsuwm. And a couple of intersting blank looks at the target - true, I had just taken the citation 'as read', but the archery butts I used to fire at were black centred, methinks...

international archery seems to have a "gold standard"; two styles of target, one with 5 rings and one with 3, both with gold at the center -- but I don't know what it looked like in the 16th century.

don't know what it looked like in the 16th century

Ah, the memory's the first to go... never mind, dear, have a biscuit and a nice cup of tea

Ok, I'm going to clear this up for all of you once and for all.

Yes, you know how it starts . . .

Our tale begins in Italy, in the late 1400s. The Renaissance was in full bloom and adventure was in the air. This was the age of the great Explorers: Magellan, Columbus, de Gama. But, as is expected, there were many lesser known explorers who were overshadowed by the great accomplishments of their contemporaries. One of these unfortunate also-saileds was a young Italian named Marcus Victorio Blancoli. His travels in a dilapitated ship took him to south-western Africa. No, he wasn't able to make it all the way around like the others, but he have an important fjord named after him, sort of.

Many years later this area was turned into a large livestock range. Cows would wander along the coast peering out to the distant horizon while nonchalantly chewing their cud. It was a very calm place, perhaps too calm. For, in the 1700s, during the height of the Transatlantic slave trade, this range became the site of a bloody massacre. Slave-laden ships would frequently pass by on their trips and vehement abolishionists found the spot to be perfect for wreaking havok on the slave ships. One noted event happened on the morning of June 3, 1732. The crew, as it has been told, was out on the deck of the ship surveying the waters when a small band of anti-slavery zealots opened fire on the crew. All seven crew members died and the gunmen disappeared into history. Slave traders did all they could to keep the story secret, because it would surely thwart their booming trade, but assuredly, toward the back of newspapers around the world, headlines read: "Men Fired at From Point Blank Range."

And now you know . . . the rest of the story.

archery

I wonder if the phrase "don't shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes" has any relevance here - or is that a purely modern usage (say, for pilots)?

This wouldn't put you very close to the target (person), but close enough in archery terms, I think.

Also there was an archery contest on the grounds outside my office a few weeks back, and the colouring of the targets definitely struck me as unusual - they may have been white at the centre, with no white elsewhere. UK/European standard?

I am bringing this thread back up due to milum's post in the other one: The word white-eyes was used by the Alabama Choctaws both descriptively and derisively depending on context.
Such as...
"The treaty of 1801 was broken in 1804, as the white-eyes count the years."
or...
"Let's go kill the White-eyes"

I am hoping he, or some of the other people who have joined since this thread died may have some comments.

This resurrected thread reminds me again, if so many people knew about Quinion's site over a year ago, how come we had so many pointless discussions about "full monty" and other useless phrases

As for "point blank" I'm still confused, and refuse point blank to worry about it.

The quote is the order given to American troops at what is called "The Battle of Bunker Hill" The British were advancing uphill and the Colonists holding the high ground were short of men and ordnance ...therefore : The order "Don't shoot 'till you see the whites of their eyes" meaning do not fire until you were sure you had a clear target at close range.
Before all you historians get on my case...I know the battle was actually fought on Breed's Hill outside Boston ... a monument tower marks the place ... climb the interior circular stairs (unless you're claustrophobic) for a geat view.

After looking at my encyclopedia, it is clear that the British wanted to capture Bunker Hill, which is much higher than Breed's Hill, and so more suitable for a harbor defence artillery emplacement. Breed's Hill is between Bunker Hill and the place where the British landed, but high enough to make an easily defended line. So the name is a bit of a quibble.

>This resurrected thread reminds me again, if so many people knew about Quinion's site over a year ago, how come we had so many pointless discussions about...

<sigh>
----

scene: a man is alone in a small room, staring incessantly at a glowing rectangle of nondescript light.

"hmmmm. I wonder where the phrase 'monkey's uncle' comes from? maybe I'll check Quinion.... nope, not there."

some days later:

"hmmmm. I wonder where the phrase 'yessiree, bob' comes from? maybe I'll check Quinion.... nope, not there."

some days later:

"hmmmm. I wonder where the phrase 'hello sailor' comes from? maybe I'll check Quinion.... nope, not there."

repeat as needed.

True, true. Quinion hasn't expressed an opinion on everything, just yet. And (shock, horror) he ain't even always right!!!!!!!!!! Wash your mouth out, CK. You have veered, nay, swerved, I say, off the path of righteousness here ...

I did feel that for once the superfluous profusion of multiple exclamation marks was probably justified. Probably. Oh, and the use of white text, too. Probably

From the For-What-It’s-Worth Department.

Dictionary of Word Origins, Jordan Almond, agrees with the explanation that point blank is from the French for aiming at the white center of a target. Similarly, Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, WW Skeat.

Origins A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, Eric Partridge, agrees (sort of) with the French derivation of point blank:

{tracing the many descendants of the root pungere, to prick.} 8. L punctum, a point, a dot, becomes OF-F point, adopted by ME; in several senses, E point (n) prob derives rather from F pointe, from L puncta, prop the f of the pp punctus. “To point”, ME pointen, comes from MF-F pointer, from the OF n point. The adj point blank derives from the adv, itself perh from F de pointe en blanc, from a point into the white (of the target); point-device or -devise, from ME at point devis, at point exact, OF-MF devis, exact, fixed, from L diuisus, (sharply) divided.

Pungere has a surprising number of descendants, including TEd’s cousin, pun.

yes, for what its worth. these sources all seem to ignore the thrust of OED's argument, which is totally dull and drab of course, depending as it does on the written records.

No matter how it originated, "point blanK" is now used to mean "at very close range" without delay for careful aim.