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Holland is a region and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. The name ''Holland'' is also frequently used to informally refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. This usage is commonly accepted in other countries, but in the Netherlands and particularly in other regions of the country it could be found undesirable〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Dutch Embassy in Sweden )〕 or even insulting.〔page = 248, "Amsterdam: guida città", Ryan Ver Berkmoes, EDT srl(Lonely Planet)〕 From the 10th to the 16th century, Holland proper was a unified political region within the Holy Roman Empire as a county ruled by the Counts of Holland. By the 17th century, Holland had risen to become a maritime and economic power, dominating the other provinces of the newly independent Dutch Republic. The area of the former County of Holland roughly coincides with the two current Dutch provinces of North Holland and South Holland, which together include the Netherlands' three largest cities: the capital city of Amsterdam; Rotterdam, home of Europe's largest port; and the seat of government of The Hague. == Etymology and terminology == The name ''Holland'' first appeared in sources in 866 for the region around Haarlem, and by 1064 was being used as the name of the entire county. By this time, the inhabitants of Holland were referring to themselves as "Hollanders".〔Antheun Janse, "Een zichzelf verdeeld rijk" in Thimo de Nijs and Eelco Beukers (eds.), 2003, ''Geschiedenis van Holland'', Volume 1, p. 73〕 ''Holland'' is derived from the Middle Dutch term ''holtland'' ("wooded land").〔''Oxford English Dictionary'', "Holland, n.1," etymology.〕 This spelling variation remained in use until around the 14th century, at which time the name stabilised as ''Holland'' (alternative spellings at the time were ''Hollant'' and ''Hollandt''). A popular folk etymology holds that ''Holland'' is derived from ''hol land'' ("hollow land") and was inspired by the low-lying geography of Holland.〔 The proper name of the area in both Dutch and English is "Holland". Holland is a part of the Netherlands. "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.〔 This example of ''pars pro toto'' or synecdoche is similar to the tendency to refer to the United Kingdom as "England".〔"The majority of English people still behave as if 'English' and 'British' are synonymous", historian Norman Davies quoted in (The English: Europe's lost tribe ), BBC News Story, January 14, 1999〕〔George Mikes, ''How to be an Alien'', "When people say England, they sometimes mean Great Britain, sometimes the United Kingdom, sometimes the British Isles - but never England."〕 The people of Holland are referred to as "Hollanders" in both Dutch and English. Today this refers specifically to people from the current provinces of North Holland and South Holland. Strictly speaking, the term "Hollanders" does not refer to people from the other provinces in the Netherlands, but colloquially "Hollanders" is sometimes used in this wider sense. In Dutch, the Dutch word "''Hollands''" is the adjectival form for "''Holland''". The Dutch word "''Hollands''" is also colloquially and occasionally used by some Dutch people in the sense of "''Nederlands''" (Dutch), but then often with the intention of contrasting with other types of Dutch people or language, for example Limburgish, the Belgian form of the Dutch language ("Flemish"), or even any southern variety of Dutch within the Netherlands itself. In English, "Dutch" refers to the Netherlands as a whole, but there is no commonly used adjective for "Holland". The word "Hollandish" is no longer in common use. "Hollandic" is the name linguists give to the dialect spoken in Holland, and is occasionally also used by historians and when referring to pre-Napoleonic Holland. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Holland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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