Flag
mid 16th century: perhaps from obsolete flag ‘drooping’, of unknown ultimate origin.
wiktionary
From Middle English flag, flagge(“flag”), further etymology uncertain. Perhaps from or related to early Middle English flage(name for a baby's garment) and Old English flagg, flacg(“ cataplasm, poultice, plaster”). Or, perhaps ultimately imitative, or otherwise drawn from Proto-Germanic *flaką(“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-(“flat, broad, plain”), referring to the shape. [1]
Germanic cognates include Saterland Frisian Flaage(“flag”), West Frisian flagge(“flag”), Dutch vlag(“flag”), German Flagge(“flag”), Swedish flagg(“flag”), Danish flag(“flag, ship's flag”). Compare also Middle English flacken(“to flutter, palpitate”), Swedish dialectal flage(“to flutter in the wind”), Old Norse flögra(“to flap about”). Akin to Old High German flogarōn(“to flutter”), Old High German flogezen(“to flutter, flicker”), Middle English flakeren(“to move quickly to and fro”), Old English flacor(“fluttering, flying”). More at flack, flacker.
Perhaps from a variant of flack(“to hang loose”), from Middle English flacken; or perhaps from Old Norse. [1]. Compare Middle Dutch flaggheren, vlaggheren(“to droop, flag”).
Of uncertain origin, perhaps from North Germanic; compare Danish flæg(“yellow iris”). Or, possibly from sense 1, referring to its motion in the wind. Compare also Dutch vlag.
Probably of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin; compare Icelandic flag.
flag (plural flags)
etymonline
flag (n.1)
"cloth ensign," late 15c., now in all modern Germanic languages (German Flagge, Dutch vlag, Danish flag, Swedish flagg, etc.) but apparently first recorded in English, of unknown origin, but likely connected to flag (v.1) or else an independent imitative formation "expressing the notion of something flapping in the wind" [OED]. A guess considered less likely is that it is from flag (n.2) on the notion of being square and flat.
Meaning "name and editorial information on a newspaper" is by 1956. U.S. Flag Day (1894) is in reference to the adopting of the Stars and Stripes by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.
flag (v.1)
1540s, "flap about loosely," probably a later variant of Middle English flakken, flacken "to flap, flutter" (late 14c.), which probably is from Old Norse flaka "to flicker, flutter, hang losse," perhaps imitative of something flapping lazily in the wind. Sense of "go limp, droop, become languid" is first recorded 1610s. Related: Flagged; flagging.
flag (n.2)
"flat stone for paving," c. 1600, ultimately from Old Norse flaga "stone slab," from Proto-Germanic *flago- (from extended form of PIE root *plak- (1) "to be flat"). Earlier in English as "piece cut from turf or sod" (mid-15c.), from Old Norse flag "spot where a piece of turf has been cut out," from flaga.
flag (n.3)
plant growing in moist places, late 14c., "reed, rush," perhaps from Scandinavian (compare Danish flæg "yellow iris") or from Dutch flag; perhaps ultimately connected to flag (v.1) on notion of "fluttering in the breeze."
flag (v.2)
1875, "place a flag on or over," from flag (n.1). Meaning "designate as someone who will not be served more liquor," by 1980s, probably from use of flags to signal trains, etc., to halt, which led to a verb meaning "inform by means of signal flags" (1856, American English). Meaning "to mark so as to be easily found" is from 1934 (originally by means of paper tabs on files). Related: Flagged; flagging.
