Etymograph

English

Flanagan

Flanagan comes from Irish Ó Flannagáin ‘descendant of Flannagán’, from flann ‘blood red’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *welh₃- ‘to strike, hit’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welh₃-‘to strike, hit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*wlannosreconstructed
  3. Middle Irishc. 900–1200flann‘blood-red, crimson’
  4. Irishc. 1200–presentsame form‘blood red’
  5. Irish, derivedc. 1200–presentÓ Flannagáin‘descendant of Flannagán’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2025Flanagan

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welh₃-‘to strike, hit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*wlannosreconstructed
  3. Middle Irishc. 900–1200flann‘blood-red, crimson’
  4. Irishc. 1200–presentsame form‘blood red’
  5. Irish, derivedc. 1200–presentÓ Flannagáin‘descendant of Flannagán’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2025Flanagan

Earliest quotation: 2025, Jusolyn Flower, Assistant attorney general arrested in Newport: “According to the attorney general’s office, Special Assistant Attorney…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *welh₃- ‘to strike, hit’

pull, vulnerable, invulnerability, convulsive, convulsion, 21 more

Today it means

name A surname from Irish.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *welh₃- / Flanagan

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