The Flea Market Itch
I recently had the pleasure of attending two flea markets in two very different areas of the country. I now wonder how I nearly made it to my thirtieth birthday without ever experiencing the spectacle that is the flea market. With my sister near her summer home in Wisconsin, I wandered in and out of row after row of tables, fascinated by the hodge podge of junk and treasures on display. Cheesehead hats, Green Bay Packers memorabilia, and cheese curds were all there begging to be bought. Ten days later, the scene was repeated, except this time I was with my parents in Florida. There the booths were decorated with confederate flags and fishing gear. Two very different settings, with different wares, but the same thing was at the core: the flea market spirit.
I began to wonder where the term flea market came from. I mean, they were not selling any fleas (as far as I could see) and there were not a lot of dogs around. I also did not see any fleas doing their shopping. How then did these wonderful open-air markets become forever associated with such a detestable little insect?
I found several conflicting accounts of the origins of the term "flea market." The first two have the fleas crossing paths with markets in Paris. The most straightforward, and possibly thereby the most feasible explanation is that the name of Marché aux Puces, a popular outdoor bazaar in Paris, was directly translated. In English, it becomes, literally, "Market of the Fleas." It is rumored that the original French name came from the flying nuisances themselves, and that the market sold mostly furniture, which was, as one may infer, flea-infested. The second theory also stems from the City of Lights, but not that particular market. It is based on an account that the shopkeepers who sold used goods were forced to "flee" their former quarters and start up their businesses elsewhere when their old neighborhoods were demolished to make way for new buildings. Their new marketplace was therefore referred to as a "flee market."
Another explanation comes from closer to home. There was a market in New York in the 1700's that was called the Fly Market. In Dutch, the market was called "vlie" which means valley, but is pronounced, you guessed, it, "flea." We may never know exactly how the name first came into use, but flea markets and their moniker are here to stay.