English
flash
Flash perhaps comes from Middle English flasshen ‘to splash’, likely imitative; some senses may be Scandinavian.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flasshen‘to splash’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1590flash
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flasshen‘to splash’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1590flash
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. Disposed into Twelue Books: “The varlet ſaw, when to the flood he came,…”
The story
In some senses, from Middle English flasshen, a variant of flasken, flaskien (‘to sprinkle, splash’), which was likely of imitative origin; in other senses probably of North Germanic origin akin to Swedish dialectal flasa (‘to burn brightly, blaze’), related to flare.
Every English word from Middle English flasshen
Another origin of flash
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flashe
- Englishtodayflash
It is not entirely clear whether these constitute a single term with varied spellings, or have distinct etymologies. The form flash, flashe is often suggested to be from Old French flache, French flaque, which is of Germanic origin, akin to Middle Dutch vlacke (‘an estuary, flats with stagnant pools’).
Today it means
verb To cause to shine briefly or intermittently.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English flasshen / flash