{"id":4377,"date":"2026-03-14T18:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4377"},"modified":"2026-03-14T18:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:28:08","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-flowing-floods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4377","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Flowing Floods"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Flowing Floods\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-03-14T18:00:04+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M17S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"What links the word flood with words for flow, river and high tide? Let's find out in this Adventure in Etymology.\n\n\n\nMeanings of flood [fl\u028cd] include:\n\n An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water d...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.4\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8394\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4377-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4377-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"flowingfloods.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>What links the word <strong>flood<\/strong> with words for <strong>flow<\/strong>, <strong>river<\/strong> and <strong>high tide<\/strong>? Let&#8217;s find out in this Adventure in Etymology.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/videos\/flowingfloods.jpg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" alt=\"Flowing Floods\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Meanings of <strong>flood<\/strong> [fl\u028cd] include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water.<\/li>\n<li>A large number or quantity of anything appearing more rapidly than can easily be dealt with (e.g. a flood of complaints).<\/li>\n<li>The flowing in of the tide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>flod<\/em> [flo\u02d0d] (river, lake, ocean, flood), from Old English <em>fl\u014dd  \/ \u16a0\u16da\u16a9\u16de\u16a2<\/em> [flo\u02d0d] (flowing of the tide, river, stream, flood), from Proto-West Germanic <em>*fl\u014ddu<\/em> (river, flood), from Proto-Germanic <em>*fl\u014dduz<\/em> (river, flood), from PIE <em>*pl\u00f3h\u2083tus<\/em> (overflow, deluge), from <em>*pleh\u2083(w)-<\/em> (to swim, to flow) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/flood#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same roots possibly include <strong>flow<\/strong> in English, <strong>flod<\/strong> [flu\u02d0d] (river, flood, high tide) in Swedish, <strong>vloeien<\/strong> [\u02c8vlui\u032f\u0259(n)] (to flow) in Dutch, <strong>\u043f\u043b\u0443\u0432\u0430\u043c<\/strong> [\u02c8p\u026buv\u0250m] (to swim, to float) in Bulgarian, and <strong>plauti<\/strong> [\u02c8p\u026b\u0250\u0302\u028at\u02b2\u026a] (to wash, rinse) in Lithuanian  [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/pleh%E2%82%83(w)-\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In Old English, another word for <strong>river<\/strong> (and stream) was <em>\u0113a<\/em> [\u00e6\u0251\u02d0], which comes from Proto-West Germanic <em>*ahu<\/em> (river), from Proto-Germanic <em>*ahw\u014d<\/em> (stream, river, water), from PIE <em>*h\u2082ek\u02b7eh\u2082<\/em> ([flowing] water) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/ea#Old_English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same roots include <strong>eddy<\/strong> and <strong>ewer<\/strong> in English, <strong>\u00e5<\/strong> [o\u02d0] (river, creek, big stream) in Swedish, <strong>\u00f8<\/strong> [\u00f8\u02c0] (island) in Danish, <strong>\u00e1<\/strong> [au\u02d0] (river) in Icelandic, and <strong>agua<\/strong> [\u02c8a.\u0263\u031ewa] (water) in Spanish [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/h%E2%82%82%C3%A9k%CA%B7eh%E2%82%82\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>There was a lot of rain in the UK this week, and plenty of large puddles on the roads, but I didn&#8217;t see any major floods. I hope things were okay where you are.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/uk\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_flow&amp;SESSION=aLjPfXL-vP_1gQ_U23Iz8_hSWLlhzLHPMFZrt32dIEfG8htoNFLYaPoWkv8&amp;dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8def8934b92a630e40b7fef61ab7e9fe63\">PayPal<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/omniglot\">Patreon<\/a>, or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/donations.htm\">contribute to Omniglot in other ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with <a href=\"https:\/\/blubrry.com\/services\/podcast-hosting\/?code=omniglot\">Blubrry Podcast Hosting<\/a>, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code <strong>omniglot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/\">Omniglot Blog<\/a>, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/\">Celtiadur<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n   crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n   style=\"display:block\"\n   data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n   data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n   data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n   data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n   (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Flowing Floods\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-03-14T18:00:04+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M17S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"What links the word flood with words for flow, river and high tide? Let's find out in this Adventure in Etymology.\n\n\n\nMeanings of flood [fl\u028cd] include:\n\n An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water d...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.4\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8395\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4377-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4377-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/flowingfloods.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"flowingfloods.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>What links the word flood with words for flow, river and high tide? Let&#8217;s find out in this Adventure in Etymology. Meanings of flood [fl\u028cd] include: An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water. A large [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,121,31,47,20,56,29,12,4,156,58,55,1,57,59,119,28,30],"tags":[398,90,395,390,9,167,15,88,8,396,397,103],"class_list":["post-4377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-bulgarian-","category-danish","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-icelandic","category-italian","category-language","category-lithuanian-lietuviu-kalba","category-middle-english","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-podcast","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-proto-west-germanic","category-spanish","category-swedish","tag-eddy","tag-etymology","tag-flood","tag-flow","tag-language","tag-linguistics","tag-music","tag-omniglot","tag-podcast","tag-river","tag-tide","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4377"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4383,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4377\/revisions\/4383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}