Bland
late Middle English (in the sense ‘gentle in manner’): from Latin blandus ‘soft, smooth’.
wiktionary
Borrowed from Latin blandus(“pleasant, flattering”).
From Middle English blanden, blonden, from Old English blandan(“to blend, mix, mingle; trouble, disturb, corrupt”), from Proto-Germanic *blandaną(“to mix, blend”). Cognate with Icelandic blanda, Norwegian, Danish blande, Swedish blanda. See also blend.
From Middle English bland, from Old English bland, blond(“blending, mixture, confusion”), from Proto-Germanic *blandą(“a mixing, mixture”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ-(“to grow turbid, dim, see badly, be blind”). Cognate with Icelandic blanda(“a mixture of liquids, especially of hot whey and water”).
etymonline
bland (adj.)
"mild, smooth, free from irritating qualities, not stimulating," 1660s, from Italian blando "delicate," or Old French bland "flattering, complimentary," both from Latin blandus "smooth-talking, flattering, alluring," perhaps from PIE *mlad-, nasalized variant of *meld-, extended form of root *mel- (1) "soft." Related: Blandly; blandness.
