William Blass and Wilhelm Brasse RIIP

My October 28 post references a cluster of notable "Williams" who had passed away within a few days, they are as follows:

 

October 24th:

Bill Dees, 73, American musician and songwriter ("Oh, Pretty Woman", "It's Over"), brain tumor.^[60]

October 23rd: 

• William Joel Blass, 95, American judge and politician, member of the Mississippi House of Representatives (1953–1960).^[65]

• Wilhelm Brasse, 94, Polish  photographer, Auschwitz prisoner during World War II.^[66]

October 22nd:

• Sir Wilson Whineray, 77, New Zealand rugby union player and businessman (Carter Holt Harvey).^[83]

• Sam Williams, 88, American college basketball coach (Texas–Pan American), natural causes.^[84]

October 21st

William Walker, 99, British fighter pilot (Battle of Britain), stroke.^[97]

So 6 notable Williams had passed away in 4 consecutive days, a little more than what beats the odds even when taking into consideration the names popularity during the early 1900's.  From among the list,  are two that I haven't yet posted about, William Blass and Sam Williams.  This post will investigate William Blass.

On venturing to the "Most Popular Names" site (Here), I noticed that William was still most popular in Quebec, but then I noticed that "Liam" had become most popular in some of the other provinces.   Liam is the last four letters of William... very audd, usually when a name is "shortened", the tendency is to use the first portion... such as Will and/or diminutive, Bill.   Keep in mind that William originally comes from "Will" meaning "desire" and "Helm" meaning "Helmet protection".  So in a roundabout way, Liam is "Helm".  Note the following etymology:

 helmet mid-15c., perhaps a dim. of O.E. helm "protection, covering; crown, helmet" (see helm (2)). But Barnhart says from M.Fr. helmet (Mod.Fr. heaume), dim. of helme"helmet," from the same Germanic source as helm (2). "Middle English Dictionary" points to both without making a choice. "Old English helm never became an active term in the standard vocabulary of English." [Barnhart]
helm (1) "handle of a tiller," late 13c., from O.E. helma "rudder; position of guidance, control," from P.Gmc. *halbma- (cf. O.N. hjalm, O.H.G. helmo, Ger. Helm "handle"), from PIE*kelp- "to hold, grasp" (see helve).
helm (2) "a helmet," c.1200, from O.E. helm "protection, covering; crown, helmet," and perhaps also from cognate O.N. hjalmr, from P.Gmc. *helmaz "protective covering," from PIE*kel- "to cover, to hide" (see cell). Italian elmo, Sp. yelmo are from Germanic.

Now then, moving on to William Blass.  First of all note that he died on the same day as Wilhelm Brasse, and also note the similarity between the names Brasse and Blass.  One of the things that you soon discover if you should ever choose to studying etymology (origin of words/names), is that the letters "L" and "R" found in a good many words are "interchangeable".  You can imagine, that as European countries began to merge, there were a number of differences among a wide variety of cultures that needed to be tended to, language being one.  When two languages merge, you often get a hybrid/mixture emerging and since some letters, namely consonants, were hard to pronounce, shifts occurred.  The French don't use the sound of "th" and so when they do, it comes out sounding more like "D".  The same is true about "R", some languages don't contain an "R"and so when these people try to make the sound, it comes out as "L".   So that is a very plausible explanation for the "interchangeability" of certain letters in our word origins.

I wasn't able to find either Blass nor Brasse in the online etymology of names source, but note the following from the on line etymology dictionary... perhaps you can see the long and "short" of it:
     

blaze (n.1) 

"bright flame, fire," O.E. blæse "a torch, flame, firebrand, lamp," from P.Gmc. *blas- "shining, white" (cf. O.S. blas "white, whitish," M.H.G. blas "bald," originally "white, shining," O.H.G. blas-ros "horse with a white spot," M.Du., Du. bles, Ger. Blesse "white spot," blass "pale, whitish"), from PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn" (seebleach (v.)).

brace (n.) 

early 14c., "piece of armor for the arms," also "thong, strap for fastening," from O.Fr. brace, braz "arms," also "length measured by two arms" (12c., Mod.Fr. bras "arm, power;" brasse "fathom, armful, breaststroke"), from L. bracchia plural of bracchium "an arm, a forearm," from Gk. brakhion "arm" (see brachio-). Applied to various devices for fastening and tightening on notion of clasping arms. Of dogs, "a couple, a pair" from c.1400.

brachio- 

before a vowel, brachi-, word-forming element meaning "arm," from Gk. brakhion "arm," perhaps originally "upper arm," lit. "shorter," and from brakhys "short," in contrast to the longer forearm (see brief (adj.))

brief (adj.) late 13c., from L. brevis (adj.) "short, low, little, shallow," from PIE *mregh-wi-, from root *mregh-u- "short" (cf. Gk. brakhys "short," O.C.S. bruzeja "shallow places, shoals," Goth. gamaurgjan "to shorten").
brief (n.) from L. breve (gen. brevis), noun derivative of adjective brevis (see brief (adj.)) which came to mean "letter, summary" (specifically a letter of the pope, less ample and solemn than a bull), and came to mean "letter of authority," which yielded the modern, legal sense of "summary of the facts of a case" (1630s).
brief (v.) "to give instructions or information to," 1866;

brass (n.) 

O.E. bræs "brass, bronze," originally in reference to an alloy of copper and tin (now bronze), later and in modern use an alloy of two parts copper, one part zinc. A mystery word, with no known cognates beyond English. Perhaps akin to Fr. brasser "to brew," since it is an alloy. It also has been compared to O.Swed. brasa "fire," but no sure connection can be made. Yet another theory connects it with L. ferrum "iron," itself of obscure origin. 

blase (adj.) 

"bored from overindulgence," 1819, from Fr. blasé, pp. of blaser "to satiate" (17c.), of unknown origin. Perhaps from Du. blazen "to blow"