Where does “blear eye” come from?

blear eye (English) comes from English Eye, from English -some, from Middle English -som, from Old English sum, from Proto-West Germanic *sum, from Proto-Germanic sumaz, from Proto-Indo-European sem- — together, one.

blear eye (English): A disease of the eyelids, involving chronic inflammation of the margins, with a gummy secretion of sebaceous matter

Definitions

  1. A disease of the eyelids, involving chronic inflammation of the margins, with a gummy secretion of sebaceous matter

Ancestry of “blear eye”, step by step

blear eye traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English Eye

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishEyeA place name
2English-someCharacterized by some specific condition or...
3Middle English-somsome; having a specific quality
4Old Englishsumsome
5Proto-West Germanic*sumsome
6Proto-Germanicsumazsome (one), a certain (one)
7Proto-Indo-Europeansem-together, one

via English blear

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishblearDim, unclear from water or rheum; Causing or...
2Middle Englishbleren
3Old Englishblǣran
Every word from Proto-Indo-European sem-Every word from Proto-Germanic sumazEvery word from Proto-West Germanic *sum