LL-L "Names" 2003.11.09 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 09.NOV.2003 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: Names

While we speak of "Low German" in a language content, did ever "Low Germany"
emerge as the name of a region?(grouping together Hannover + Schleswig +
Holstein + Mecklenburg + ...?)

I'm asking this, since while completing my web page about the 17 provinces:
http://home-13.tiscali-business.nl/~tpm09245/terr/bel/17_pro/17_pro.htm
I came to find that in the 16th century:

- the xvii provinces
- Germania Inferior, Basse Allemagne, Alemania la baja, Nider Teutschlandt,
...
- Ni(d)derland(t), Le(s) Pays Bas, Il Paese Basso, ...
- Gallica Belgica, Belgium, La Gaule Belgique, ...

were all synomyms and covered all the actual Benelux + the
Nord-Pas-de-Calais region (now part of France)

Was the term "Low Germany" ambiguous, or did it shift to the East in later
centuries? Is it coincident with the "Low German" language area nowadays?

And btw: why did the English come to take a "Latin" name for "Belgium",
rather than "Belgoland" or something more Anglo-Saxon?

Thanks for all comments and regards,
Roger

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Names

Roger,

I'm not aware of any area or region being called "Low Germany" or variants
thereof, though some German scholars occasionally refer to Northern Germany
as _Niederdeutschland_ within linguistic and cultural contexts.  Some use
_niederdeutsch_ in the old sense of including Lowlands Saxon, Dutch,
Brabantish, Flemish, Zeelandic, etc., when they talk about linguistic
genealogy.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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