For now I would like to give you something to ponder on the history of the English language.
"Deutsch" in original English is Dutch (notice the similarity).
English only started calling "Dutch" "German" because in the 15th century they were referring to a specific tribe or a Celtic term for "neighbor" or "noisy" which is pretty funny (I can laugh because I'm German).
That's also why "Pennsylvania Dutch" is a dialect of German.
Even the Germans call the Dutch language "Niederlaendisch" (Netherlandsish).
The word "Netherlands" means "Lowlands" which actually is original English, but every other language still calls them "Lowlands" or "Holland" (which is a misnomer because Holland is only a section of the Netherlands. In French it translates as "Les Pays-Bas" which means "the low countries."
In conclusion, I think English should call German "Dutch" and call Dutch "Netherlandsian" or "lowlandsish" or something and we should maybe change the name of Netherlands to "Lowlands." Just to show how progressive we are.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave interesting comments. Start a flame war, if you please.