561: dutch, netherlands, and holland Jun 21, 2016

Someone who is Dutch is from Netherlands, or sometimes called Holland. Though it is true that the country is in the north of Europe, 'Netherlands' comes from, 'nether' which means 'lower', for the reason that it is less mountainous that the interior of central Europe, similar to the naming of Low German and High German (see Word Facts from May 7, 2016). 'Holland', however is only an informal name for the country, as it is the name for a specific region of the Netherlands by the coast, but gained so much recognition that people began to refer to the whole country by the name. As for 'Dutch', the word does not only mean someone from the Netherlands, but also someone from Germany; note the similarity between the words 'Deutsch' and 'Dutch'. Though the word does retain its original meaning, it became more standard over time to use 'Dutch' to mean 'Low German' and then finally the single language we know today.