Etymology

Flanders

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Today it means: A cultural region in the north of Belgium. Full definition →

Middle English Flaundres ← Anglo-Norman Flaundre ← Middle Dutch Vlâendren pl
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*plow-m-“flow”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*flaumdr“waterlogged land”
  3. Middle Dutch · derived fromVlâendren pl
  4. Anglo-Norman · derived fromFlaundre
  5. Middle English · inherited fromFlaundres
  6. English todayFlanders

From Middle English Flaundres, from Anglo-Norman Flaundre, Flaundres, from Middle Dutch Vlâendren pl, from Vlander, from Old Frisian, from Proto-West Germanic *flaumdr (“waterlogged land”), from *flaum (“flowing, current (water)”) (compare Old High German weraltfloum (“transitoriness of life”), Old Norse flaumr (“eddy”)), from Proto-Indo-European *plow-m- (“flow”) (compare Ancient Greek πλῠ́μα (plŭ́ma, “dishwater, washing water”)). More at flow. "Waterlogged" refers to the mudflats and salt marshes common to coastal Flanders.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.