Why are Dutch people...

[Asti]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I like your language And most people think it's weird. Especially when I note that I don't like languages like French and Italian and like German instead. But somehow, Germanic languages sound much better to me. Though, no offence to any Hollanders, but Dutch sounded horrible to me.

Ha ha, I bet people think that's weird. I can't even imagine what German sounds like if you can't understand it. Dutch sounds very rough because of the way they pronounce their 'g's. personally, I like Finnish and English. I've never heard any celtic languages like Irish spoken, I bet they sound interesting. Oh, and although I don't understand a word, I always found Russian quite pleasant.

 

[Wado Rhyu]

first off all. the name holland for Nederland was given to use by the americans (go figuere). it means woodland. the resaon for this was the fact we had a lot of forests in ower small country.

the call us Dutch because the person who inveted it was smoking wiet bought in Amsterdam.

 

[Wado Rhyu]

might wanna check auston powers goldmember another example of a german speaking dutch man.

 

[strongkanegou]

we call them dutch cos of the Deutschland, which I believe the Netherlands were once a part of them.

this is utter and complete bullcrap I'm sorry to say.

Besides Nazi germany's occupation the only people ever to occupy The Netherlands were spain and france

The Dutch Republic originated out of rebellion against the spanish and even seized control of England at a few points in their lifetime (therefrom stems a certain hate between the two, yet also a bond)

Ahh, but they are still "Germanic", aren't they?

Definitely. The Netherlands used to be part of the Kingdom of Germany [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Germany], and as such have "Germanic" origins. Linguistically, both Dutch and German (as well as English) belong to the West Germanic languages [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germanic_languages].

Ermm... I'm pretty sure they call themselves `Nederlanders'. At least wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_people] says so. And I think the real question is why we call Germans German when they come from Deutschland.

Or call the Japanese Japanese when they are from Nihon.

That's why. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Japan#Jipangu]

 

[gertmenkel]

No, Hol sort of means Hole,as in a place lower than the rest of the surroundings so its kinda hole-land. B

Holland is derived from the Middle Dutch term holtland ("wooded land")
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland)

 

[Jason Danger Keyes]

I always had a scene in my head with an English first meeting the Germans.

British: I say old chap, this is a fine country you have here. What do you call yourselves?
German: Deutschland.
British: Germany, you say? Smashing! Back to jolly England, toodle-pip!
German: (Facepalm)

 

[Hawkmoon269]

We English do have a history of naming things in a ridiculous manner

This video demonstrates it, i feel : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13RhSc-DaOI

 

[Chemical Alia]

I think the linguistic reasons have been explained pretty well already.

I've always been annoyed at being Pennsylvania Dutch, which most people aren't aware isn't Dutch at all, but German. Even the language is German, it's derived from a southwestern dialect. I was told that the misnomer stems from the word "deutsch/deitsch".

 

[DSK-]

As my Nederlander friends once said "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much!"

 

[feauxx]

While we're at it, why is the country called Holland somewhere and Netherlands ('low grounds') elsewhere? That's some schizophrenic country

Either way, researching history of words is very interesting. I think I'll look this up.

because officially THE NETHERLANDS would mean including belgium luxemburg and the northern part of france

The Netherlands blatantly means : the low countries

I always thought that the common name for that region was Benelux....i just found out that Benelux only refers to some sort of economic union between those countries.

Live and learn i guess

You are actually right. Our country is called The Netherlands. No matter what it actually means, it's just the country. I don't think you'll make many friends in Belgium if you lop them in with the Netherlands.

Anyway people should really stop calling it Holland, it's annoying. Ask any Brit what they think about people calling their entire continent just 'England'.

you're right somewhat but wrong in your conclusion, you ask an englishman he'll say england, you ask a scot he'll say " no you *** I'm scottish/brittish"

It's not everyone it's those parts that are actually heriditary different

Also : Belgium Belongs to THE NETHERLANDS because they are one of the low countries
The reason why everyone calls Holland ,Holland because of the view of The Netherlands being the low countries

Neder-landen Neder=Lage=Low

Ask any educated belgian on the subject and they'll tell you the same

Again, I know what the name of my country means. But again, it's just the one country. Belgium has been part of the Republic of the Netherlands in the past, but is not anymore. I don't know how I can make it more clear to you.

I'm trying to make clear to you that belgium IS a low country a "Neder-land" thus in the international community the area would be referred to as Netherlands, the countries as holland and belgium

I'm sorry, but you're just wrong on all accounts. Holland is not a country. The Netherlands is. Belgium is. Eveybody in the world but you seems to know that.

I'm not wrong
on any account you *** listen : this area round here is called the netherlands , the country is too for itself but as do the japanese live in NIPON and not in japan
It's the same thing, people consider this Holland due to the contrast I just drew for you now please stop with your nonsensical debate, you're not even reading my posts properly

i agree with her, holland is not the name of our country, just a western region, 2 provinces. and belgium is belgium, not part of the netherlands.

 

[TonyVonTonyus]

Why are the French called French in English? French isn't a country!

Don't get me started on those Vikings

Damn those vikings, burning our women, raping our churches.

Seriously though, Dutch is the anglicized version of it and when has anything in the English language started making sense? But I get the point, I mean in different languages they call people the name they've given the country. (In French, Germany=Allemagne German=allemande)

 

[Sajuuk-khar]

we call them dutch cos of the Deutschland, which I believe the Netherlands were once a part of them.

this is utter and complete bullcrap I'm sorry to say.

Besides Nazi germany's occupation the only people ever to occupy The Netherlands were spain and france

The Dutch Republic originated out of rebellion against the spanish and even seized control of England at a few points in their lifetime (therefrom stems a certain hate between the two, yet also a bond)

Actually, your reply isn't much better. The low countries were for centuries part of the 'German' Holy Roman Empire, until royal inbreeding caused the Spanish king (Charles V) becoming the Emperor as well. I'm not really sure of the circumstances but after him the areas were dividided with Philip II becoming king of Spain, including the low countries and some other family member (dunno who) becoming the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Ofcourse the reformation caused civil war and we kicked out the Spanish and gained independance.

Germany is a succesor state of the HRE (or to speak in nazi terms: the HRE was the first 'reich'). Besides even if you'd not consider being part of the HRE being part of Germany, then you cannot say the Spanish were occupying The Netherlands either because that's before there was a country called The Netherlands. Also it can't be called occupation because it was simply a next phase of an hereditary monarchy.

As for England: we've been in four wars, but the 'seized control' thing happened once... and it was part revolution. England had for a long time fights between Catholics and protestants, and parliamentarists and royalists. Stadtholder William II did indeed invade Britain including Dutch marines, but also with support of protestants/parliamentarists and a large part of the people He then went on to marry Mary and to favour the English over us.

 

[Bluefire0909]

I think this has been answered pretty much now, I will say that people must not mistake the German language with the Dutch because it is not the same at all and might get you into some pretty embarrasing situations. A lot of words that look the same are actually something completely different. for example: the German word dürfen looks like the Dutch word durven but it doesn't mean the same, dürfen means allowed to and durven means dare. Don't mix 'em up you guys

 

[Nieroshai]

We call Deutshelanders "Germans," so it's not TOO rare.

 

[Beliyal]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I like your language And most people think it's weird. Especially when I note that I don't like languages like French and Italian and like German instead. But somehow, Germanic languages sound much better to me. Though, no offence to any Hollanders, but Dutch sounded horrible to me.

Ha ha, I bet people think that's weird. I can't even imagine what German sounds like if you can't understand it. Dutch sounds very rough because of the way they pronounce their 'g's. personally, I like Finnish and English. I've never heard any celtic languages like Irish spoken, I bet they sound interesting. Oh, and although I don't understand a word, I always found Russian quite pleasant.

Yeah, the 'g's in Dutch, makes them sound like they're choking. It was quite funny to listen to them speak, when I was in the Netherlands. Oh, and I agree on Russian. I learned a little bit of it and fell in love immediately. It's a wonderful language. Though, Slavic languages can be difficult to learn; luckily, my language is Slavic too, so I had little to no problems with Russian. Generally, I like Germanic type of languages (I consider English to be almost my second native language, I've been listening and learning it since early childhood), but I very much like Greek and Near and Middle Eastern ones.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

Silly history I'm guessing. Originally the Netherlands refered to both present day Holland/Netherlands as well as Belgium. So I'm guessing that the terms Dutch and Holland came into use to differentiate the Dutch from the Flemish (Belgium). I don't know where Holland and Dutch came from (Holland is apparently an area in the Netherlands and I guess Dutch might be due to the closeness to Deutschland). I can't say that I know all this for certain (beyond the 'Netherlands' being both the present day Netherlands and Belgium) but that's my theory to the whole oddness.

And yes English is a silly, silly language.

 

[Sajuuk-khar]

snip

Actually, your reply isn't much better. The low countries were for centuries part of the 'German' Holy Roman Empire, until royal inbreeding caused the Spanish king (Charles V) becoming the Emperor as well. I'm not really sure of the circumstances but after him the areas were dividided with Philip II becoming king of Spain, including the low countries and some other family member (dunno who) becoming the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Ofcourse the reformation caused civil war and we kicked out the Spanish and gained independance.

Germany is a succesor state of the HRE (or to speak in nazi terms: the HRE was the first 'reich'). Besides even if you'd not consider being part of the HRE being part of Germany, then you cannot say the Spanish were occupying The Netherlands either because that's before there was a country called The Netherlands. Also it can't be called occupation because it was simply a next phase of an hereditary monarchy.

As for England: we've been in four wars, but the 'seized control' thing happened once... and it was part revolution. England had for a long time fights between Catholics and protestants, and parliamentarists and royalists. Stadtholder William II did indeed invade Britain including Dutch marines, but also with support of protestants/parliamentarists and a large part of the people He then went on to marry Mary and to favour the English over us.

actually no the netherlands were part of the Austrian side of the Hapsburg up till the point they became spanish

your argument from there is invalid

Your historical knowledge is invalid. The first Holy Roman Emperor (not counting the Carolingian ones) Otto I was HRE, King of Italy and king of Germany. And guess what areas were part of this 'Kingdom of Germany'? I dare you to open a history book or google it. There was no 'Austrian side' in the HRE. Austria was a region with the Habsburg dynasty gaining control over the HRE (and later Austria-Hungaria) in later times.

 

[Folio]

You're dutch yourself. (you write the word with a capital letter)

Besides, we call the people from Germany germans, but that's the old name of their country.

People from Belgium don't speak belgian, french or dutch. They speak flemish or wallonian.

Indians from America aren't indian. They're native americans.

Point made? No, it doesn't explain anything.