I have an old white blanket I affectionately call "Blanc-y" (what, you don't have nicknames for your linens?) because blanc is the French word for white (but you knew that). Turns out the word blanket actually orginates from the word blanc as "in the Middle Ages, French linens were made from undyed woolen cloth, which had a whitish hue." (January 2005 Martha Stewart Living) Huh.