I think this is from Britanica:
In the Middle Ages the language was called Dietsc, or Duutsc, historically equivalent to German
Deutsch and meaning simply “language of the people,” as contrasted with Latin, which was the language of religion and learning. The form Duutsc was borrowed into English and gives modern “Dutch.” The official name of the language is Nederlands, or Netherlandic. In the Netherlands it is also called Hollands (Hollandish), reflecting the fact that the standard language is based largely on the
dialect of the old province of
Holland (now
North Holland and South Holland).
The
spoken language exists in a great many varieties.
Standard Dutch (Standaardnederlands or Algemeen Nederlands) is used for public and official purposes, including instruction in schools and universities. A wide variety of local
dialects are used in informal situations, such as among family, friends, and others from the same village (these exist in far more variety than does the English of North America). Standard Dutch is characterized grammatically by the loss of case endings in the noun.
In Belgium efforts were made to give Dutch equal status with French, which had assumed cultural predominance during the period of French rule (1795–1814). In 1938 Dutch was made the sole official language of the northern part of Belgium.
The use of Standard Dutch together with the local
dialect is much more widespread among the people of the Netherlands than it is in Belgium. The dialects of the area bounded roughly by
Amsterdam,
The Hague, and
Rotterdam are closer to Standard Dutch than are those of the other dialect areas.
Go Remco Go!!!...for the integrity of the thread
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