{"id":229,"date":"2013-05-24T16:53:58","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T20:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=229"},"modified":"2025-04-18T10:44:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:44:22","slug":"flag-derived-from-a-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flag-derived-from-a-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Flag\u2019 derived from a sound"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever listened to a flag?<\/p>\n

\"A
A child with flags and fireworks for the Fourth of July, circa 1906.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For more than two centuries, Americans have seen them. Whether large and flying smartly in the wind from a mast on the U.S.S. Constitution\u2026or medium-sized and carried proudly by soldiers during the Battle of Gettysburg\u2026or small and waved enthusiastically by families at a Fourth of July parade this year, an American flag<\/a> looks great.<\/p>\n

It also sounds great. Listen to the ship\u2019s flag snap<\/em> in the breeze\u2026to the Gettysburg flag flutter<\/em> in the wind\u2026to the flap<\/em> of the flag as a child waves it back and forth.<\/p>\n

Now you have an idea about the probable origin of the word \u201cflag.\u201d The Oxford English Dictionary is considered the best source of definitions of words as well as their etymologies \u2013 explanations of where words came from. Most English words derive from other languages, but some imitate sounds. An example of what are termed onomatopoetic words is \u201cbow-wow.\u201d The word is an imitation of the sound a dog makes. \u201cChirp\u201d and \u201cwhoosh\u201d are other examples.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s probably also the case with \u201cflag,\u201d according to the OED. Dating the birth of the word to at least the 16th<\/sup> century, the dictionary says that \u201cflag\u201d originated when people imitated what they heard as a flag snapped. \u201cIt may plausibly be supposed to be an onomatopoetic formation,\u201d says the dictionary, \u201cexpressing the notion of something flapping in the wind.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are other possibilities, the OED admits. Perhaps \u201cflag\u201d evolved from \u201cflage,\u201d a 12th<\/sup>-century word for a diaper, or from \u201cflacg,\u201d meaning a piece of cloth. But it\u2019s more likely that \u201cflag\u201d came from \u201cflap\u201d \u2013 and that both words imitate what people heard when they looked up at a mast\u2026over to a marching soldier\u2026or down to a child\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever listened to a flag? For more than two centuries, Americans have seen them. Whether large and flying smartly in the wind from a mast on the U.S.S. Constitution\u2026or medium-sized and carried proudly by soldiers during the Battle of Gettysburg\u2026or small and waved enthusiastically by families at a Fourth of July parade this… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,4,115],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-american-flag","tag-flag","tag-sound"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Origin of the Word "Flag" According to the OED<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about the origin of the word flag, which was likely derived from the sound a flag makes when it flaps in the wind.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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