Flanders

Origin

From French Flandres, from Dutch Vlaanderen (pl.), from Middle Dutch Vlander, from Old Frisian, from Proto-Germanic *flaumdra ‘waterlogged land’, from *flaumaz ‘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 plŷma ("dishwater, washing water")). More at flow. "Waterlogged" refers to the mudflats and salt marshes common to coastal Flanders.

Full definition of Flanders

Proper noun

1. (historical) The Countship of Flanders, of varying extent.
• 1613 — Shakespeare, Hen VIII iii 2When you went
  Ambassador to the Emperor, you made bold
  To carry into Flanders the great seal.
2. A subnational state in the north of federal Belgium, the institutional merger of a territorial region and the Dutch language 'community' which also has/shares some authority in the capital region Brussels.
3. Two provinces in Belgian Flanders: (West-Flanders and East-Flanders).
4. Short for French Flanders, a former province of the French kingdom on territory taken from the above countship, now constituting the French department Nord.
5. The principal railway station in Lille, capital of the above.

Related terms

• East-Flanders
• Flandrian
• Flemish
• French Flanders
• Imperial Flanders
• West-Flanders
• Zeelandic Flanders

Anagrams

• snarfled