Why do they call people from Netherland Dutch?
Why not Netherlander?

Heavenly said:

Sorry, I'm from the Netherlands and it sounds so silly that I'm really laughing the curls out of my hair!!


Okay Seriously... I don't have a clue!!

Pass the Netherlander



that don't sound right

If no one has an answer, I'd say it's time to make it right.

From now on, you are called a Netherlander unless you can give me a good reason why you are called Dutch.
[Edited 12/15/04 5:39am]

Heavenly said:

Why blame us for that? Ask the folks who speak English. We didn't make up the damn name.

JoweeCoco said:

Hello Netherlander.
So who made up the name Netherland and what does it suppose to mean?
What's it called in your language?

and why are people from Germany called Germans
when they call themselves Deutscher which would
translate more or less into "Dutch" given a
chance to be bastardised over a coupla decades



I mean, why is Germany called Germany anyway
when they call it Deutschland and Germanië was
a much larger portion of Europe and not just
the part where "germany" is now pin pointed.

Heavenly said:

Holland is not the Netherlands and vice-versa

If you say "Holland" everyone knows what you mean -- that little country with all the windmills and wooden shoes and tulips. But technically, Holland is the area of the original 7 stadholders who formed the country centuries ago. Today, the province of Holland has been split up into Noord-Holland, with Haarlem and Amsterdam, and Zuid-Holland with the Hague and Rotterdam.

Again, when you say Holland everyone knows what you mean. If you are actually in Noord-Holland or Zuid-Holland, people will not think badly of you, and they may even say Holland back to you. In the rest of the Netherlands, I think it's taken as a subtle unintended insult to those who live outside "Holland." It's better to say the Netherlands.

"Aha," you say, as you notice that I use the word Holland liberally throughout this site when I really should write "Netherlands." There is one one reason I do this: people on the Internet are searching for Holland more commonly than the Netherlands, so my site has to reflect this common misunderstanding. Otherwise I would love to be correct and use "the Netherlands" everywhere.

By saying the Netherlands you are referring to the "low countries" which make up all areas Dutch. The Netherlands was comprised of these eleven provinces until Flevoland was drained and made usable in the 1960's and later:
Noord-Holland -- Haarlem
Zuid-Holland -- The Hague (Den Haag)
Zeeland -- Middelburg
Friesland -- Leeuwarden
Groningen -- Groningen
Drenthe -- Assen
Overijssel -- Zwolle
Gelderland -- Arnhem
Utrecht -- Utrecht
Noord-Brabant -- 's Hertogenbosch
Limburg -- Maastricht

Heavenly said:

It's called Nederland and it means lowland. Neder (nether) = low
and its called "The Netherlands!"

Heavenly said:

the term Netherland comes from

Neder and Land

meaning "the nether region" and "land"

that's because most of the Netherlands lie beneath sea level and are
protected from flooding by dikes.

No dikes are not lesbians in this case.



I think way back Belgium was also incorporated into the Nether Lands
with the northern portion already being called "Holland" by many.

Somehow the term Netherlands then became known for the whole 12
provinces that now constitute it.

Belgium became it's own country with it's own sovereignty et all.

I'm confused now.

JoweeCoco said:

You're right! I am from Noord Brabant and I always correct the people who say that I'm from Holland! I don't live in Holland, I live in The Netherlands!

JoweeCoco said:

So Netherland includes Holland in it as a provnice?

Heavenly said:

Yes Sir.

HowComeYouDontCallme said:

So basically you ARE supposed to be called Netherlanders
How are you called in your own language?

Heavenly said:

Nederlanders

JoweeCoco said:

But why are we called the 'DUTCH?'

IstenSzek said:

I really didn't know that. I just made up a name and it comes out it's really the right name.

HowComeYouDontCallme said:

c.1380, used first of Germans generally, after c.1600 of Hollanders, from M.Du. duutsch, from O.H.G. duit-isc, corresponding to O.E. þeodisc "belonging to the people," used especially of the common language of Germanic people, from þeod "people, race, nation," from P.Gmc. *theudo "popular, national" (see Teutonic), from PIE base *teuta- "people" (cf. O.Ir. tuoth "people," O.Lith. tauta "people," O.Prus. tauto "country," Oscan touto "community"). As a language name, first recorded as L. theodice, 786 C.E. in correspondence between Charlemagne's court and the Pope, in reference to a synodical conference in Mercia; thus it refers to Old English. First reference to the German language (as opposed to a Germanic one) is two years later. The sense was extended from the language to the people who spoke it (in Ger., Diutisklant, ancestor of Deutschland, was in use by 13c.). Sense narrowed to "of the Netherlands" in 17c., after they became a united, independent state and the focus of English attention and rivalry. In Holland, duitsch is used of the people of Germany. The M.E. sense survives in Pennsylvania Dutch, who immigrated from the Rhineland and Switzerland. Since 1608, Dutch has been "an epithet of inferiority" -- Dutch treat (1887), Dutch uncle (1838), etc. -- probably exceeded in such usage only by Indian and Irish, reflecting first British commercial and military rivalry and later heavy Ger. immigration to U.S. Double dutch "gibberish" is from 1876. Dutch elm disease (1927) so called because it was first discovered in Holland (caused by fungus Ceratocystis ulmi).

Heavenly said:

true, true.....

Heavenly, here's a question for you: since you're from Israel (Tel Aviv?), why are all Israeli's jews and how come that not all jews are Israeli's? It seems just as confusing to me, right? Or, please correct me if I am totally wrong.....
[Edited 12/15/04 6:10am]

Heavenly said:

In the Netherlands, I never talk about Holland, neither do I call myself a Hollander. In another country I might do that...

abierman said:

I don't think all Israeli's are jews either, are they? Besides that, you can be jewish by faith and jewish by...uhm "race".

abierman said:

Oh, that's easy.
Basically Jewish people are the people who are religiously Jewish. and Israelis are the people who live in Israel. Most Israelis are Jewish (not all) but there are many Jewish people who live all over the world. Same as Christians and Muslims.

abierman said:

Though during soccer matches we do chant "Holland, Holland!".
[Edited 12/15/04 6:13am]

JoweeCoco said:

I don't watch soccer .....I'd like to chant 'Oranje'. We chant 'Holland' because it's easier to chant.....and the players from the team usually are from Holland (just kidding, we all know they are from the Antillies & Suriname.....).....

Heavenly said:

I always wonderd about that myself, to me it sound like we are German (we call them Duits) so that might be what happend I don't know.

JoweeCoco said:

thanks for clearing that up man, the education at this site

It does get complicated. From 1815 till 1830 you have The United Kingdom of Netherlands (Het Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden), meaning today's Belgium and Netherland. Than Belgium became independent. Funny thing is how many provinces or regions in both countries still share the same name. You have the province Limburg in both countries, the provicne (Noord)-Brabant in both countries, the region Vlaanderen in Belgium and an area called Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in the Netherlands. And of course the northern part of Belgium still speaks Dutch ('Nederlands'), although they often call it Flemish ('Vlaams').
Of course the Southern part of Belgium speaks French (and in the most eastern part the speak German ('Duits' ).

Now the real question is why Flemish people (who live in an a country where half of the population doesn't speak Dutch) uses the Dutch word 'fruitsap' for orange juice while the Dutch (the people from the Netherlands - 'de Nederlanders') - commonly use the french word for orange juice, i.e. jus d'orange?

i think this is really interesting !

JoweeCoco said:

It's too complicated but I think it says I'm right about the German part being called Duits and Dutch huh????