The Netherlands is known under various terms both in English and other languages. These are used to describe the different overlapping geographical, linguistic and political areas of the Netherlands. This is often a source of confusion for people from other parts of the world. In English the country is called 'the Netherlands' (or frequently 'Holland'), while the people and the language are called 'Dutch'. Note that in Dutch the official (and predominant) terms for these are 'Nederland' for the country, 'Nederlanders' for the people and 'Nederlands' for the language, although they are occasionally (colloquially) called 'Holland', 'Hollanders' and 'Hollands' respectively.

The Netherlands

"Netherlands" literally means "Low countries" or "Lowlands". Although the name of the country is singular in its native language (Netherland, or "Low country"), the English language uses a plural form (but usually with a singular verb). This plural convention is actually archaic, referring to the period 1581 to 1795 when the Dutch Republic was a loose confederation of seven provinces. The Dutch name for the Dutch Republic is Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden (Republic of the Seven United Low Countries) or Nederlanden ("Low countries") for short.

The origin of the name

In Dutch, the language is called Nederlands (literally: Netherlandish), which derives from the name Nederland. The origin of the word Nederlands is Dutch, but not so much the usage of the name itself. Of course, nether ('low') could simply refer to the geographical characteristics of the land, both flat and down river. Then, it merely describes the geographic situation. However, it might be observed that the specification neder- today sounds German rather than Dutch, and is cognate with German nieder as opposed to ober- ('upper'). The Netherlands, then, were perceived as "neder" to the 16th Century Habsburg rulers, who possessed territories both in the Low Countries and in Austria. Their 15th century Burgund predecessors seem to already have coined the name in French, for comparable reasons. Thus, the name Nyderlande or noz pays d'embas was born ^[1] . Between 1348 and 1566 the Netherlands formed part of the duchy of Burgundy (as the Burgundian Netherlands) and later the Habsburg Empire (as the Seventeen Provinces). The Southern Provinces were first known as the Spanish Netherlands and later as the Austrian Netherlands.

Kingdom of the Netherlands

See also: Kingdom of the Netherlands#The distinction between the Netherlands and "the Kingdom"

From 1815-1830 the United Kingdom of the Netherlands existed, but then Belgium became independent. The Northern Provinces continued using the name "the Netherlands". Outside the Kingdom of the Netherlands, "Netherlands" may be used as the conventional short form to describe the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The latter encompasses the Netherlands, a constituent country within the Kingdom, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. In Dutch common practice, however, the Kingdom of the Netherlands is shortened to "Kingdom" and not to "Netherlands", as that may confuse the Kingdom with the constituent country. The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands also shortens the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kingdom rather than "Netherlands"^[2].

Historically Suriname and Indonesia were also part of Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Netherlandish

The adjective "Netherlandish" denotes both a period and a place, the latter being the Low Countries. Most common is the use of this adjective when referring to paintings produced before about 1530–1570 anywhere in the Low Countries, which are referred to as Early Netherlandish painting (in Dutch Vlaamse primitieven, Flemish primitives—also common in English before the mid 20th century). From around the 16th century onwards, art or artists from the southern Catholic provinces are usually referred to as "Flemish" and from the northern Protestant provinces as Dutch, but art historians sometimes refer to Netherlandish art for art produced in both areas between 1400 and 1830.

Holland

Location of Holland within the Netherlands

In football (soccer), the Dutch national team is commonly referred to as "Holland"; here supporter shirts for sale at Amsterdam Airport

In languages other than Dutch, including English, "Holland" is often used as a common synonym for the Netherlands as a whole. Strictly speaking, it refers only to the central-western part of the country, which consists of two of the country's twelve provinces: North Holland and South Holland. Such use of a part to designate its whole, which also occurs elsewhere, is called pars pro toto, from Latin. Examples include Russia for the (former) Soviet Union or the Russian federation, and England for the United Kingdom (see also British Isles terminology).

Historically, Holland was the most powerful province of the Netherlands: the counts of Holland were also counts of Hainaut, Friesland and Zeeland between the 1200s and 1400s. During the period of the Dutch Republic the stadtholder of Holland was the most powerful politician in the Netherlands, who often also was stadtholder in other provinces; the cities in Holland were important trading cities, for instance of the six cities that made up the Dutch East India Company, five were in Holland. The two provinces making up Holland still remain demographically dominant - they house 37% of the Dutch population. The full name of the republican province was Holland and West Friesland, so it can be argued that "Holland" does not even indicate the whole area of the two provinces. After the demise of the Dutch Republic under Napoleon, the country became the Kingdom of Holland (1806-1810).

The name "Holland" for the Netherlands is also used colloquially by the Dutch themselves, especially in relation to football, where the national team is sometimes cheered on with "Holland!" The term is also used for promotion, because the name "Holland" is the best known worldwide.

In the most 'remote' provinces, i.e. those that lie furthest from Holland, notably Friesland, Groningen and Limburg, the word Hollander is frequently used in a pejorative sense, to refer to the perceived superiority or supposed arrogance of people from the Randstad Holland. As a natural reaction, people from these provinces do not always appreciate being called Hollander. This attitude is easily to be explained in socio-cultural or socio-historic terms. Interestingly, in Flanders as well, the word Hollander is used in this pejorative sense.

Dutch

Further information: Dutch (ethnic group)

"Dutch" is the term used to describe the inhabitants of the Netherlands, their language, and as an adjective meaning "coming from or belonging to the Netherlands". Dutch is not only spoken in the Netherlands, but also in Belgium by the Flemish Community (in the Flemish Region and the Brussels-Capital Region), parts of northern France (around Dunkirk), Suriname, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. Its southern dialects are sometimes called Flemish. Afrikaans, spoken in South Africa and the southern part of Namibia is derived from the Dutch language.

The English word "Dutch" is a cognate to the Dutch word dietsch and the German word Deutsch. All these words have the same etymological origin. Both these terms derive from what in Common West Germanic was known as theodisca, which meant "(language) of the (common) people". During the early Middle Ages, the elite mostly used Latin and the common people used their local languages.

In the 1930s, Nazi Germany sought to "re-unite" the Dutch language area by referring to it as Dietsland.

In the United States, the term "Dutch" has in the past sometimes been used instead of Deutsch to indicate a German origin - e.g. Dutch Schultz, the Pennsylvania Dutch, and so forth.

Low Countries

The name "Low Countries" may be used to refer to the Netherlands, while it actually refers to the historical region de Nederlanden: those principalities located on and around the mostly low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers. This area very roughly corresponds to the countries of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. This region was called Greater Netherlands by irredentists who sought to unite it. This historical region also was referred to as "The Netherlands" in English.^{citation needed} Between 1579 and 1794 the area comprising present Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of northern France was called the Southern Netherlands (or the "Spanish Netherlands" between 1579 and 1713, the "Austrian Netherlands" after 1713, after the main possession of their Habsburg lord).

This region was united three times, in the Seventeen Provinces as a personal union during the 16th century, in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1815 and 1830 under King William I, and as the BeNeLux customs union founded in 1948.

In other languages

In most languages, the name for the country literally means Low Countries or is derived from Nederland or Holland. It is different in each language which form or forms are used. Sometimes the name for the country is one form and the adjective to refer to it is another. The use of Dutch as a reference to the Netherlands is an international exception though. Not exceptional is the use of one word to refer to the country and another to refer to the language. More about this difference in the article Names for the Dutch language.

Netherlands-related naming issues

Abel Tasman gave the name New Holland to the continent now known as Australia, a name it retained for 150 years until the United Kingdom renamed it in 1824.

References

See also

• Names for the Dutch language
• Netherlands (disambiguation)