plash

Etymology

Comes from Middle English plasch, plasche, plash, plashe (“pool of standing water, marshy place; torrent of water (?)”), from Late Old English plæsċ, plesċ (“pool; puddle”), probably from Proto-West Germanic *plask (“pool”); beyond that the origin is unknown, though it is probably ultimately onomatopoeic, imitating the sound of splashing. Cognates include German platschen (“to splash”); Middle Dutch plasch, plas (“pool”) (surviving as modern Dutch plas, “pool, watering hole”, and plassen, “to splash, splatter”); Middle French plache (“pool”) and plascq (“damp meadow”); Anglo-Norman plasseis (“marshes”, plural); and West Frisian plaskje (“to splash, splatter”).