v. (pres. ptcp.)
'fluttering'
(Modern English flacker)This iterative v. can be plausibly connected with a range of onomatopoeic Gmc comparanda incl. ON, cp. OIcel flakka 'rove about' (< PGmc *flakkō(j)an-; see Kroonen on the ult. etymology) which is evidently borrowed into ME: <flacke> (describing the action of a heart) occurs in Gower (see MED s.v. flakken and Bj.). An entirely native formation is also plausible. Derivative forms with the frequentive -er suffix are also found elsewhere, e.g. in the formation of another wk v. on the same stem in Du: cp. MDu vlacken, vlaken 'flame' and Du flakkeren 'flutter'. Cp. also the poetic adj. OE flacor (adj.) 'flying, quivering, fluttering' (DOE) and the v. flicerian, flicorian '(of bird or angel) flutter, hover, flicker' (cp. MED s.v. fliker).
PGmc Ancestor
*flakkō(j)an-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
cp. flakka 'rove about'
(ONP cp. flakka (vb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
cp. Far flakka, Icel flakka, Norw flakka, Dan flakke, Sw flacka
OE Cognate
cp. flacor (adj.) 'flying, quivering, fluttering', flicerian, flicorian (v.) '(of bird or angel) flutter, hover, flicker'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
CC1a
MED has a handful of scattered attestations with this sense (see also s.v. flackering (ger.)), beginning with a1325 Gloss.Bibbesw. (Cmb Gg.1.1), and it continues in N dial of MnE (EDD).
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Cl 1410