Jump to content

A question for the Nederlanders here


HIHIHI

Recommended Posts

I am aware that there are several Dutch people who play RenX, including TK, Ryz, Moat, etc. My question to you is: Why do you have several towns in Nederland with "berg" in the name (e.g. Bergen op Zoom, Steenbergen, Zevenbergen, etc.)? As I understand it, "berg" means "mountain," and the Netherlands is very flat, is it not?

Do the towns have terrain features that are mountains in the same sense that Hoge Berg (15 m tall) is a mountain? Or did the namers of the towns just like the thought of having "berg" in the name, even if there wasn't really a mountain? Or am I mistaken, and "berg" can mean something else as well?

Don't take this wrong; I like the Netherlands. I'm just wondering how these towns got their names.

Bedankt, HIHIHI

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Old Dutch 
 

bergen

  1. to get to safety, to keep safe
  2. to stash away, to hide
  3. to store, to keep

From Wiktionary.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bergen#Middle_Dutch

It could also mean a fort or a barracks.

There are hills in the Netherlands, so modern Dutch. Those cities could just be built on hills. Berg means hills/mountain, not just mountains.

Edited by Gliven
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Akbaro said:

-worth, -ing, -ton, (those 3 combined are probably a town)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worthington,_Leicestershire Yep. : ) I also saw that there's one in Ohio, too.

 

3 hours ago, Gliven said:

Old Dutch 
 

bergen

  1. to get to safety, to keep safe
  2. to stash away, to hide
  3. to store, to keep

From Wiktionary.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bergen#Middle_Dutch

It could also mean a fort or a barracks.

Interesting thought. Also, I looked up Zevenbergen (Not sure why I didn't do that earlier), and it seems it's named after hills surrounding it several thousand years ago. I think my view of the Netherlands is a bit TOO flat. I guess they do have some hills, albeit small ones. : )

Edit: I just remembered. I bet the "bergen" you referenced is related to "verbergen," which is also, "to hide." It's fun to find connections between words. : )

Edited by HIHIHI
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah. I think I have, until now, envisioned the Netherlands as being about as flat as a tabletop. I now realize that it does have SOME hills, and that berg doesn't always mean "mountain" as I think of it; it can mean a hill.

Maybe the towns with "berg" in their name used to have hills nearby. When I looked up Zevenbergen, it said the hills it was named after existed quite a while ago, but they were buried now.

It is kind of strange to think that there is probably more variation in height on the 10-acre piece of land I live on than there is in much of the whole country of the Netherlands. It just shows how different parts of the world can be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ryz said:

Well the mountain maybe not that high as you expect either, but we have small mountains :P

Yeah, I know. Hoge Berg is 15 m. When I think "high mountain," I think more in the thousands of meters. : )

I read that in at least one province, the highest point is a highway overpass. But then while we were in Florida (the flattest state in the U.S.), a tour guide told us that in Florida, overpasses are called mountains. : ) (It's funny, some Dutch people were on that tour too, although I wasn't into Dutch things yet then.)

If you have more facts about the Netherlands you want to share, go ahead! I always enjoy learning about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's fun to see the connections between languages. But you gotta be careful too. When I was just starting to learn some Dutch, I was doing animal names.
Kat = cat, hond = dog (hound), koe = cow, so when I got to dier, I thought, "I don't have to look at the answer. It's deer!" Wrong. Dier means animal. : ) Hert = deer.

Another fun thing I discovered while learning Dutch: in English, a mural is a painting on a wall. Dutch for wall is muur.

I think learning a second language helps you learn more about your own language too, because you have to focus on grammar and such, when you never had to do so learning your first language.

HIHIHI

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, funny but odd.

In the Netherlands we say 'poepen' when you have to shit in the bathroom
In Belgium they say 'poepen' if you are going to fuck...

Imagine there a villages here close to Bergen op Zoom (10 minutes drive) which have a part of it on Dutch soil and a part on Belgium.... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/26/2018 at 12:09 PM, Ryz said:

In the Netherlands we say 'poepen' when you have to shit in the bathroom
In Belgium they say 'poepen' if you are going to fuck...
 

That's a classic, real funny.

On 12/25/2018 at 6:23 PM, HIHIHI said:

Yeah, I know. Hoge Berg is 15 m. When I think "high mountain," I think more in the thousands of meters. : )

15m is not a mountain, just a hill. And yeah the Netherlands is very very flat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Moat said:

More facts about the Netherlands... hmmm what about new years eve

It is kinda true, but also kind of a parody

Well don't get in a bar and spoil someones drink :P 

People who followed the news about the killed rapper will understand... Not sure if it's bad luck, or just a bad location... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...