When on a short break to Amsterdam, the visitor may wonder if he’s visiting Holland or the Netherlands. And why, our curious visitor may wonder, are the locals called ‘Dutch’?



Mind you, a visitor from elsewhere in the country will be less confused - the ‘Dutch’ call their country ‘Nederland’; the people are ‘Nederlander’ and the language is ‘Nederlands’.



Yet even the locals add to the confusion by colloquially using the terms 'Holland', 'Hollanders' and 'Hollands' for their country, people and language.



A little research will tell the curious visitor to Amsterdam all they need to know - indeed, perhaps more than anybody needs to know. Why, for example, is the country singular in ‘Nederland’ but plural in the English version ‘Netherlands’?



The answer is obvious as soon as you recall that the full name for Holland in Dutch is ‘Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden’ or ‘Republic of Seven United Low Countries’. When referring to this formal name, the Dutch do slip into the plural, calling their country ‘Nederlanden’, or ‘Low countries’ for short.



So what of the word ‘Dutch’? Where did that come from? Apparently it comes from the Dutch word ‘dietsch’ and the German word ‘Deutsch’.



Both started in Common West Germanic as ‘theodisca’ which meant ‘language of the common people’. Simple really, so imagine the fun you’ll have imparting that vital information while on a city break in Amsterdam.



Mind you, there is a further complication to unravel for those who hail from the United States. There, the term ‘Dutch’ is often used instead of ‘Deutsch’ to indicate a German origin - such as in ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’.



So, if it should be ‘Nederland’ or ‘Netherlands’ we use to describe the country, where does ‘Holland’ fit in? Strictly, Holland is just a part of the Netherlands. It’s in the west, and takes in Amsterdam and parts of the North Sea coast. In all. It makes up about a quarter of the country. It was very dominant in the nation’s early history, hence its use to describe the whole country.



Curiously, in the east of the Netherlands, ‘Holland’ is used as a mild form of abuse against those who live in the more populous west. Citizens of the United Kingdom, with all the complications of Scotland, England, Britain, British etc, will well understand this complexity!



The Dutch love of cheese is well known. On your city break in Amsterdam, specialities like Edam, Gouda and Leerdammer will be served - all stamped with the word ‘Holland’, although much of the dairy industry is in the non-Holland parts of the Netherlands.



And if you happen to be in Amsterdam when the national football team is playing, you’ll hear the locals cheering on ‘Holland’. The word, by the way, comes the Saxon ‘Holtland’, meaning ‘woodlands’ or ‘wooded lands’.



Over a meal in Amsterdam, you could consider going Dutch with the bill, or if confronted with an unusual dish, fortifying yourself with Dutch courage. This refers to taking a slug of gin to build up confidence, gin being a Dutch invention - albeit the modest Dutch used the Swiss city of Geneva to name it!



The origin of the phrase ‘Going Dutch’ is less clear. In the Netherlands, while it’s fairly common to pay separately when going out as a group, the man will normally pay for the meal on a date.



So, armed with this knowledge, a short break in Amsterdam will be easy to negotiate linguistically. Fortunately, virtually everyone speaks English so you can ask with confidence if they are Dutch, a Nederlander or Hollander or if they speak Dutch or Nederlands.



And if you then dine out with your new Dutch friends, how you split the bill we leave entirely to your good judgement.

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Bob Cartwright writes for Amsterdam City Breaks