Bland

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late Middle English (in the sense ‘gentle in manner’): from Latin blandus ‘soft, smooth’.

wiktionary

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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

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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.