h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Shouldn't an entry on Flamenco mention the fact that the word has a meaning in Spanish?

Interestingly, it means "Flemish". Flemish music at the Renaissance was the most complex of studied counterpoint; from the 15th until the mid-16th century the major names in Roman church music were Flemish (Obrecht, Ockeghem, Willaert . . .)

Where does this fit in with the passionate music of the guitar? Nobody knows. But the Spaniards had an official dislike of the lute, because of its Arabic origins, and so in the 1530s they published their lute music as "written for the vihuela", a guitar-like instrument that just happened to be tuned like a lute. Strangely the few surviving vihuelas are not convincing instruments at all; poor sonic construction.

One theory about the etymology of 'flamenco' asserts that the Gitanos who decided to fight in the Flemish Wars of the C16 were accorded the title of 'flamencos' as a form of honorarium for their service to their adopted country. Rather like 'Ghurkas' in the context of the British Empire.
In my experience, this derivation is often resisted by modern gypsies, and seen, unsurprisingly, as being rather demeaning. It does have echoes of Uncle Tom about it.

It certainly is a conundrum.