Yet whiten is in kindred German bleichen,
Undoubtedly identical with bleach:
This last verb's cognate adjective is bleak—
Reverting to the Saxon, bleak is blæk. [[4]]
A semivowel is, at the last squeak,
All that remains such difference wide to make—
The hostile terms of keen antithesis
Brought to an E plus ultra all but kiss!"
MEZZOTINTO.
Footnote 4:[(return)]