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Dutch is used as the adjective for the Netherlands, as well as the demonym. The origins of the word go back to Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz, Latinised into Theodiscus, meaning "popular" or "of the people", akin to Old Dutch Dietsch or Old English þeodisc, meaning "(of) the common people". [46]
In many languages including English, (a calque of) "Holland" is a common pars pro toto for the Netherlands as a whole. Even the Dutch use this sometimes, although this may be resented outside the two modern provinces that make up historical Holland.
A popular but erroneous folk etymology holds that Holland is derived from hol land ('hollow land' in Dutch), purportedly inspired by the low-lying geography of the land. "Holland" is informally used in English and other languages, including sometimes the Dutch language itself, to mean the whole of the modern country of the Netherlands. [5]
The origins of the word Dutch go back to Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of all Germanic languages, *theudo (meaning "national/popular"); akin to Old Dutch dietsc, Old High German diutsch, Old English þeodisc and Gothic þiuda all meaning "(of) the common people". As the tribes among the Germanic peoples began to differentiate its meaning began ...
The name of the country of the Netherlands has the same etymology and origin as the name for the region Low Countries, due to "nether" meaning "low". [10] In the Dutch language itself De Lage Landen is the modern term for Low Countries, and De Nederlanden (plural) is in use for the 16th century domains of Charles V, the historic Low Countries ...
In the Dutch Golden Age, spanning most of the 17th century, Dutch trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world, and many English words of Dutch origin concerning these areas are stemming from this period. English and Dutch rivalry at sea resulted in many Dutch naval terms in English.
English is compulsory at all levels of the Dutch secondary education system: . Many elementary schools teach English in the upper grades.; Pupils must score at least a 5.5/10 for English Language and Literature at the high school finals to be able to graduate, which equals to a A2 level at the lowest (At VMBO high school level), [9] and a B2 to C1 level at the highest (At VWO high school level).
A young woman speaking Dutch (1:32) Dutch (endonym: Nederlands [ˈneːdərlɑnts] ⓘ) is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language [4] and 5 million as a second language and is the third most spoken Germanic language.