The term blasé was initially introduced by Lord Byron in his 1819 rendition of the Spanish tale Don Juan, where he included the acute accent (which was not questioned and thus retained in English, despite its rarity). Originating from French, it originally meant “weary from excessive indulgence” and functioned as the past participle of the verb blaser, meaning “to satiate”. Some etymologists suggest that blaser may have roots in the Middle Dutch word blasen, translating to “to blow”, with the implication of someone being inflated from excessive drinking. Ultimately, blasen can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European term bhle, also signifying ‘to blow”. While usage of blasé was historically minimal, it experienced a surge in popularity during the early 2000s, with literary citations peaking in 2017.
