Fen, Flash, Flodge, Flush: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning Marsh, Swamp

The natural features of a region are its topography (from Greek topos ("place"). Marshes, swamps, and related wetlands are important examples of topographic features.

In the current alphabetic series of terms that refer to such areas, here are the origins, forms, and histories of fen, flash, flask, flodge, flosh, and flush. The dates of forms and meanings come from the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

Fen
Modern English fen comes from Middle English fen (12th century), from Old English fenn (before 12th century). The word is akin to Old Norse fen ("marsh") and Old High German fenna ("marsh").

A fen is a low land covered wholly or partly with water unless artificially drained (9th century). It is a peat-forming wetlands often covered with grasses, sedges, and other plants from which the fen forms peat. A fen is similar to a bog but differs from it by being less acidic. Most fens are located in the northern hemisphere.

Flash, Flask, Flodge, Flosh, Flush
Flash, flask, flodge, flosh, and flush are very old dialectal words (except flask, which is obsolete) in England. The words are related in origin and in meaning.

As a group, they probably originated as imitations of the sound of water splashing in a puddle. And they all have histories of meaning both a pool of standing water and a marsh, or of going through stages of meaning first a pool of standing water and then a marshy place. The synonymous Middle French word flache may have influenced the English words in both form and sense.

Here, in roughly chronological order, are more details about each of these five marsh-related words.

Flosh (before 1300) denotes a pool of standing water, a stagnant pool with reeds, or a swamp. Formerly in general use, it is now dialectal in England.

Flask (before 1300), an early variant of flash (see flash below), is synonymous with flosh. It has long been obsolete.

Flush (1375) means a pool of standing water or a low swampy place. It is dialectal in England.

Flash (c. 1440) indicates a pool of standing water or a marshy place. Formerly in general use, it is now dialectal in England.

Flodge (1696) is a dialectal variant of flosh in England. This form of the word usually refers to a puddle or a stagnant pool of water.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.