English
Holland
Holland comes from Old Dutch holt lant ‘wood land’.
- Old Dutchc. 500–1150holt lant‘wood land’
- EnglishtodayHolland
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Dutchc. 500–1150holt lant‘wood land’
- EnglishtodayHolland
A compound of holt ‘wood’ + lant ‘land’
Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- ‘to beat, break’
Proto-Germanic *hultą ‘wood’
Proto-West Germanic *holt ‘woods, forest’
Old Dutch holt ‘wood’
Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- ‘land, heath’
Proto-Germanic *landą ‘land, area of ground’
Frankish *land
Old Dutch lant ‘land’
The story
A popular but false etymology holds that it is derived from hol land (‘hollow land’), inspired by the low-lying geography of both the Dutch and the English region (Holland, Lincolnshire).folk etymology The source marks this as unproven or a folk etymology. Quoted, not asserted.
Every English word from Old Dutch holt lant
Another origin of Holland
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hoh land‘spur land’
- EnglishtodayHolland
Most commonly derived from Old English hoh land (‘spur land’). However, on the basis of the topographical inappropriateness of this name and early forms, Coates and Breeze (2000) argued that the first element is a Proto-Brythonic haiw- (‘marsh, swamp’).
Today it means
name A historical province of the Netherlands.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Dutch holt lant / Holland