OT: Blond(e) (Was Re: Genitives and Possessive Adjectives)

Christopher wrote:

<<As for the blond, blonde thing, all I meant was that
it's an almost case of adjective gender agreement since in writing blond
is applied to masculine or inanimate things, and blonde is applied to
women, but you don't pronounce the difference anyway so it doesn't
really count (plus most people don't bother anymore if they ever did and
just write blond all the time).>>

I'd like to see proof that this *ever* existed in English, personally.   As
far as I've ever known, "blond" and "blonde" are simply two ways to spell the
same word, in English (not in French).   Why would this word have been borrowed
exactly, when so many other French adjectives weren't?   (grand vs. grande,
long vs. longue [I think], facil vs. facile, etc.)   Anyone have any info on
this?   'Cause if this did exist in English (and if only Henry James did this,
it doesn't count as existing in English), I think that'd be very interesting.

-David

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