English
flaneur
Flaneur comes from French flâneur ‘loafer, idler, dawdler, loiterer’, and goes back to Old Norse flana ‘to get into something heedlessly’.
- Old Norsec. 800–1350flana‘to get into something heedlessly’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentflâner‘to loiter, mill about’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentflâneur‘loafer, idler, dawdler, loiterer’
- Englishearliest quotation 1867flaneur
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Norsec. 800–1350flana‘to get into something heedlessly’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentflâner‘to loiter, mill about’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentflâneur‘loafer, idler, dawdler, loiterer’
- Englishearliest quotation 1867flaneur
Earliest quotation: 1867, The Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion, Music & Romance: “Meantime, we flaneured about the Guernsey market, and a…”
Every English word from Old Norse flana
Today it means
noun One who wanders aimlessly, who roams, who travels at a lounging pace. One who walks to observe and enjoy rather than to get somewhere.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Norse flana / flaneur