Etymology: < flow v.

Etymology: ? < Old Norse *flówe (Icelandic flói ) of same meaning, related to flóa flow v.

Etymology: Of obscure origin; perhaps < root of flaw n.¹ or fly v.¹

Etymology: Old English flówan , a reduplicated strong verb occurring as such only in English. From the same root *flô- are the weak verbs Old Norse flóa to flood, Dutch vloeijen (= Low German flojen ) to flow, and the Common Germanic *flôđu-s flood n. The weak past tense and past participle appear in early Middle English; the original strong past tense appears not to have survived into the 14th cent., but the strong past participle, though rare after 15th cent., occurs down to the 18th cent. (and still later as an archaism or a blunder, especially in the compound overflown).The Germanic *flô- < pre-Germanic *plō- in Greek πλώειν , to swim, float, πλωτός floating, navigable, Latin plōrāre to weep. According to some scholars this is an ablaut-variant of *plē- to fill, be full (compare Greek πληθύς fullness, Latin plēnus full), perhaps an extended form of *pel- : see full adj. Others regard. *plō- as standing for *plōu- lengthened grade of the root *pleu-, plou-, plu- (Germanic *fleu-, flau-, flu-), whence Sanskrit plu to swim, bathe, Greek πλεῖν to sail, πλύνειν to wash, Latin pluit it rains, Old High German flewen, flawen (Middle High German vlöuwen, vlæen) to rinse, Old Norse flaumr stream. The sense-development of the verb in English shows traces of influence from the like-sounding but etymologically unconnected Latin fluĕre, of which it is the usual translation.