From PIE *bʰleg- (to burn, to shine) — paradoxically meaning both brightness and darkness, capturing fire's duality of shining and charring.
Of the very darkest colour, the opposite of white, absorbing all or nearly all light and reflecting little or none.
From Proto-Indo-European *bhleg- ("to burn, to gleam, to shine") — paradoxically the same root that also gave words for white and flame — through Proto-Germanic *blakaz ("burnt, ink-black") and Old English blaec ("black, dark, ink"). The PIE root *bhleg- yielded two seemingly opposite meanings: Latin flagrare ("to blaze, burn") and flamma ("flame") on one side, and the Germanic *blakaz ("scorched, black") on the other. Both meanings derive from fire: fire is bright (white and