A flea market is a type of bazaar, usually outdoors, where vendors of secondhand and discount goods sell their wares. But why flea market? The term probably reflects the influence of two linguistic strains: In 18th-century New York City, the Fly Market took its name from a similar-sounding Dutch word. Later, English speakers adopted the French phrase for a similar type of market, marche aux puces, literally meaning market of the fleas. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Origin of “Flea Market””
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, Martha. Hi, Grant. My name is Megan, and I’m calling from Orange County.
Hey, Megan.
Hi, welcome to the show.
So my husband and I are avid vintage and antique shoppers, and it got us thinking about flea markets, yard sales, estate sales, and all that we often frequent.
And we were talking about how yard sales or estate sales, it’s reasonable why they would be called that, but we were curious as to why a flea market would be called a flea market.
We couldn’t quite figure out what it was that gave it its name.
So we thought we’d give you a call.
Oh, interesting question.
I wonder if you had any theories on this.
So we thought that perhaps it was because things that are at a flea market, things that you can purchase at a flea market are normally kind of old goods, antique things.
And we thought perhaps it was because they’re kind of flea ridden or, you know, that’s maybe how it got started.
Something, you know, that makes things maybe a little dirtier or used or something like that.
It was just kind of a name that stuck, even though that’s not necessarily the case anymore.
That was kind of our only guess that we can come up with.
Or like a lazy boy or a couch that actually does have fleas in it or something.
Exactly.
There is something to that, and I’m going to get back to it.
But there’s an older part of American history that plugs in here.
It has to do with the Dutch in New York.
In Manhattan, there used to be a market on Maiden Lane.
We’re talking several hundred years ago.
And there’s a Dutch word that means a marsh or valley that when it’s said fast and kind of like kind of slurred, it sounds like vli or vla.
Which in the mouths of English speakers after the British took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York, it came out like flea.
And so this market was referred to as the flea market or the market of fleas.
And so this is hundreds of years ago.
Oh, interesting.
Right?
Okay, but fast forward a little bit.
In Paris, markets were well known to be selling old clothes.
In any case, the joke was that you not only paid for the clothes, but they would give you the fleas for free.
I love it.
So that plus just the kind of understanding that you’re buying used goods of dubious quality, just like you said, and there may be vermin of a variety of types, not just fleas, they became the marché opus, which means the flea markets.
And even now, there was one in particular to start with.
Even now that term is still used in Paris and throughout parts of France, just the same way that we use flea market here.
So by the 1920s, these two different uses of flea market kind of merged in the American idiom, and now all small markets where you buy used goods tend to be referred to as flea markets.
I’m so happy that I called.
That’s a really interesting history.
Right?
I cannot wait to share it with my husband.
He’ll be thrilled.
Thank you for your call.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Okay.
Have a wonderful day.
Bye to your husband.
Bye-bye.
All right.
Thanks.
Bye now.
Bye-bye.
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