↑ Çabej, E. 1976a. Studime Gjuhësore I, Studime Etimologjike në Fushë të Shqipes, A-O. Prishtinë: Rilindja, p.71
Etymology
From earlier *ble, cognate to Lithuanian blènst(“to see badly; to look”) and other Baltic cognates[1] (compare Latvian blendu(“have poor eye-sight, to be poor-sighted”)). The intermediate semantic development could have been 'to buy off, corrupt, cheat'.