flamenco

The etymology of flamingo is gloriously tangled. The bird's name comes from Spanish or Portuguese flamengo/flamenco, which meant both 'flame-colored' (from Latin flamma) and 'Flemish' (from the people of Flanders). Why would a tropical pink bird be named after people from Belgium?

One theory: Flemish people were known for their ruddy, pink complexions—so the pink bird was 'Flemish-colored.' Another: the flamenco dance, associated with Romani people in Andalusia, was called 'Flemish' as a general term for 'foreign' or 'exotic.' The bird, the dance, and the demonym all tangled together in medieval Spanish.

The more straightforward etymology connects flamingo directly to Latin flamma ('flame') through Provençal flamenc ('flame-colored'). The bird's brilliant pink plumage—actually derived from the carotenoids in the algae and crustaceans they eat—made the fire connection obvious. A flamingo in flight looks like a tongue of flame.

English borrowed flamingo from Spanish or Portuguese in the 1560s. The word has traveled from Latin fire to Provençal color to Spanish ambiguity (bird? dance? Belgians?) to English, where it names only the bird. The flamenco dance kept the Spanish form. The two words—flamingo and flamenco—are probably the same word, separated by usage.