"Nederland" means "lowland" in Dutch. It translates into English as "netherlands" and into French as "pays bas" (same meaning). It refers to the fact that much of Holland (The Netherlands) is below sea level, which accounts for the dikes. The Dutch refer to one of their provinces as Holland, which means "highland," because it is above sea level. Ironically, English recognizes both highland (Holland) and lowlands (The Netherlands) as alternate names of the same country. There are historical reasons for this, but haven't I bored you enough already? Paul S. Larudee, RPT Richmond, CA
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