# Why Trailblazers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-trailblazers/458810 "2008-08-04T15:08:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-trailblazers/458810/1 "2008-08-04T15:08:23Z")
The pioneers/explorers/mappers etc of the old west are sometimes referred to as “Trailblazers” Why “Blazers”? Surely trail makers or finders or beaters is more appropriate ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-trailblazers/458810/2 "2008-08-04T15:40:15Z")
See [trailblazer - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trailblazer) ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-trailblazers/458810/3 "2008-08-04T15:50:06Z")
When travelling through unmapped areas, one would typically mark their trail by cutting notches into the trees along the trail. These notches are called “blazes”. This activity is called blazing the trail, and the people who do it are “trailblazers”. It was done so you could find your way back along the way you came, or so that others could follow the same path you took. It really helps keep people from getting lost, etc. Now, if your question is “why are these marks called blazes?” I’m afraid I can’t help you there. Possibly something to do with some vague resemblance to a mark left by a fire, or a metaphor for the marks illuminating the way, or some such. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-trailblazers/458810/4 "2008-08-04T15:50:21Z")
Merriam-Webster has tis as definition 3 of blaze: Function: transitive verb Inflected Form(s): blazed; blaz·ing Etymology: Middle English blasen, from Middle Dutch blāsen to blow; akin to Old High German blāst blast Date: 1541 : to make public or conspicuous Sounds like it comes from _blow_, as in proclamations preceded by a fanfare of trumpets. Its use in “making conspicuous” is probably related to _blazon_, the medieval heraldic term meaning “to describe heraldic arms in technical terms”. A trailblazer is making the trail as public as possible. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-trailblazers/458810/5 "2008-08-04T16:22:40Z")
I always associated it with the “blaze” on a horse’s head and onlineetymology seems to think so. Blaze: “light-colored mark or spot,” 1639, northern Eng. dialect, probably from O.N. blesi “white spot on a horse’s face” (from the same root as blaze (1)). Applied 1662 in Amer.Eng. to marks cut on tree trunks to indicate a track. The verb “to mark a trail” is first recorded 1750, Amer.Eng. (Blaze (1) refers to blaze as “flame” or “torch” btw.) ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-trailblazers/458810/6 "2008-08-04T16:28:27Z")
And now I know. Thanks all