An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/platzen

by Friedrich Kluge

platzen, verb, ‘to crash, burst,’ from Middle High German platzen, blatzen, ‘to fall with a noise, strike.’ This word and blesten, ‘to splash,’ are derived from an onomatopoetic stem, blad. Platschen and plätschern, Dutch plassen, ‘to plash’ (plasregen, equivalent to Platzregen), are intensive forms of platzen.