Flanders

Origin

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.