1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Blaze

BLAZE (A.-S. blaese, a torch), a fire or bright flame; more nearly akin to the Ger. blass, pale or shining white, is the use of the word for the white mark on the face of a horse or cow, and the American use for a mark made on a tree by cutting off a piece of the bark. The word “to blaze,” in the sense of to noise abroad, comes from the A.-S. blaesan, to blow, cf. the Ger. blasen; in sense, if not in origin, it is confused with “blazon” in heraldry.