There's More To Dutch Cheese Than Edam
By bobcartwright2008
When on a short break to Amsterdam, the visitor may wonder if he’s visiting Holland or the Netherlands. And why, our curious visitor may wonder, are the locals called ‘Dutch’?

Mind you, a visitor from elsewhere in the country will be less confused - the ‘Dutch’ call their country ‘Nederland’; the people are ‘Nederlander’ and the language is ‘Nederlands’.

Yet even the locals add to the confusion by colloquially using the terms 'Holland', 'Hollanders' and 'Hollands' for their country, people and language.

A little research will tell the curious visitor to Amsterdam all they need to know - indeed, perhaps more than anybody needs to know. Why, for example, is the country singular in ‘Nederland’ but plural in the English version ‘Netherlands’?

The answer is obvious as soon as you recall that the full name for Holland in Dutch is ‘Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden’ or ‘Republic of Seven United Low Countries’. When referring to this formal name, the Dutch do slip into the plural, calling their country ‘Nederlanden’, or ‘Low countries’ for short.

So what of the word ‘Dutch’? Where did that come from? Apparently it comes from the Dutch word ‘dietsch’ and the German word ‘Deutsch’.

Both started in Common West Germanic as ‘theodisca’ which meant ‘language of the common people’. Simple really, so imagine the fun you’ll have imparting that vital information while on a city break in Amsterdam.

Mind you, there is a further complication to unravel for those who hail from the United States. There, the term ‘Dutch’ is often used instead of ‘Deutsch’ to indicate a German origin - such as in ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’.

So, if it should be ‘Nederland’ or ‘Netherlands’ we use to describe the country, where does ‘Holland’ fit in? Strictly, Holland is just a part of the Netherlands. It’s in the west, and takes in Amsterdam and parts of the North Sea coast. In all. It makes up about a quarter of the country.

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