Origin of "Flea Market"

[spinnetti]

What is the origin of the term “Flea Market”?

I was chatting with a co-worker from Japan, and he said there, the Japanese phrase means exactly the same thing.

Where did this come from? As a kid, I thought there were real fleas there, but maybe that was just on the vendors?

Thanks.

[sailor]

A simple Google search reveals several pages. Among them:

http://www.word-detective.com/121597.html
. . . the actual origin of the term most probably lies in Paris, where Le Marche aux Puces (literally, “market of the fleas”) was a popular shopping venue. Le Marche aux Puces took its name, as you might have guessed by now, from the semi-humorous (and probably at least partly accurate) popular perception that the market’s ragtag goods were more than likely to be infested with fleas.

[spinnetti]

(Silly me. I shouldda searched Google)