Etymology Dictionary

BLOT (1),   a spot, to spot.  (Scand.)   M.E. blot, blotte, sb, blotten, vb.   'Blotte vppon a boke, oblitum:  Blottyn bokys, oblitero;' Prompt. Parv. p. 41.—Icel. blettr, a spot, stain (stem blat-). + Dan. plet, a spot, stain, speck; plette, to spot, to stain; 'Dan. dial. blat, blatte, a small portion of anything wet, blatte, to fall down;' Wedgwood.   [Cf. Swed. plotter, a scrawl; plottra, to scribble.   Perhaps connected with G. platschen, to splash; platsch, a splash; platze, a splash, a crash; platz (interjection), crack! bounce!]   B. Fick cites M.H.G. blatzen, G. platzen, to fall down with vehemence; from stem blat-; iii. 221.   And the stem blat- curiously reappears in the Gk. ἔφλαδον, I tore with a noise, παφλάζειν, to foam, bluster, from the ✔ΘΛΑΔ, an extension of ✔ΘΛΑ, seen in ἐκφλαίνειν, to spout forth.   See these roots discussed in Curtius, i. 375.   The original sense of the root is 'to spout forth,' 'bubble out.'

BLOT (2),   at backgammon.  (Scand.)   A blot at backgammon is an exposed piece.   It is obviously, as Mr. Wedgwood well points out, the Dan. blot, bare, naked; cf. the phrase give sig blot, to lay oneself open, to commit or expose oneself. + Swed. blott, naked; blotta, to lay oneself open. + Du. bloot, naked; blootstellen, to expose.   β. These words, remarks Mr. Vigfusson in his Icel. Dict. s.v. blautr, were borrowed from German bloss, naked, bare, which can hardly be admitted; the difference in the last letter shews that the words are cognate merely.   γ. All of them are connected with the Icel. blautr, soft, moist; cf. Lat. fluidus, fluid.   See Bloat. [†]