Etymology

fleming

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Today it means: A native or inhabitant of Flanders in Belgium. Full definition →

Middle English flameng ← Old Norse Flæmingi ← Middle Dutch Vlaminc
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*flaumaz“flowing, current (water)”
  2. Middle Dutch · derived fromVlaminc
  3. Old Norse · derived fromFlǽmingr
  4. Old Norse · derived fromFlæmingi
  5. Middle English · inherited fromflameng
  6. English todayFleming

From Middle English flameng, from late Old Norse Flæmingi, from Old Norse Flǽmingr, Middle Dutch Vlaminc, Vleminc, from Old Frisian (unattested) (compare West Frisian Flaming), from Proto-Germanic *flaumaz (“flowing, current (water)”) and the patronymic suffix *-ingaz (“belonging to, descended from”). More at Flanders.

Words from the same roots

Middle DutchVlaminc all →

flamenco

Proto-Germanic*flaumaz all →

flamingflemishfleam

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.