Ok, why is there a "the" in The Hague??

Question

or "the" as in "the Netherlands"??

Answer 1

The appears in The Hague because of the original "Den Hague".
In the name of the country, 'the' appears only when it contains a common noun, such as 'lands' in this case. The criterion is not singular-plural. The USA, the UK, because they contain nouns 'state', 'kingdom', and these are many, represented by common nouns. There's only one England, but many kingdoms.

Answer 2

Nederland/Netherlands is an abbreviation of the official name of the country which is Kingdom of The Netherlands, or in Dutch, Koninkrijk der Nederlanden(plural!, because it used to be a federal republic of semi-independent states called Republic of the United Netherlands, some of these states (in Dutch; "Staten" as in Staten Island in New Amsterdam, now known as New York) were Holland (the richest and most influential), Zeeland (New Zealand!), Brabant, Friesland... the southern part of that republic is now called Belgium and Luxemburg)...

In Dutch we only use the official name in the most official circumstances and the abbreviation Nederland(singular!) in everyday life

The "The" in The Hague comes from the Dutch "Den" in Den Haag which is Dutch for The Hague... Den is the old way of writing "de" which is Dutch for "the"... So, the exact translation of the Den Haag is The Hague (or La Haye in French)...

Den Haag btw is the official name for the city,'s-Gravenhage is not, although it's often used instead of Den Haag. According to Wikipedia 's-Gravenhage was the official name until 1990. In the beginning Den Haag was called Die Haghe or Den Hag(h)e... Haag is another (ancient) word for forest...


There are other cities in The Netherlands that have the same thing going on, like for instance Den Bosch/'s-Hertogenbosch which means The Forest of the Hertog... Hertog being a nobel title like Graaf (in 's-Gravenhage) (duke, earl, count, etc... I'm not sure which is which in English, sorry) These are settlements that became villages then towns and now cities that came into existence around some nobelman's castle or estate... Den Haag actually grew so much that it annexed a whole bunch of much older neighboring towns like Scheveningen...

-edit-

@mal g

thanks! Actually, there's a Dutch class of nobility called baron too and I'm pretty sure it's not the same as a hertog, sorry.... I think a Hertog is a duke, as in Luxemburg which I think is a groot-hertogdom (grand-duchy?)...

Answer 3

This answers why we use "the" in "the Philippines".
The Philippines consist of thousands of islands and it's also a Republic. Likewise, we say The Canary Islands, The Czech Republic.
I quote:
Note: Geographical uses of the

Do not use the before:
names of countries (Italy, Mexico, Bolivia) except the Netherlands and the US
names of cities, towns, or states (Seoul, Manitoba, Miami)
names of streets (Washington Blvd., Main St.)
names of lakes and bays (Lake Titicaca, Lake Erie) except with a group of lakes like the Great Lakes
names of mountains (Mount Everest, Mount Fuji) except with ranges of mountains like the Andes or the Rockies or unusual names like the Matterhorn
names of continents (Asia, Europe)
names of islands (Easter Island, Maui, Key West) except with island chains like the Aleutians, the Hebrides, or the Canary Islands


Do use the before:
names of rivers, oceans and seas (the Nile, the Pacific)
points on the globe (the Equator, the North Pole)
geographical areas (the Middle East, the West)
deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas (the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the Black Forest, the Iberian Peninsula)

Answer 4

Because "A" Hague or "A" Netherlands would sound even worse!

Answer 5

Yes! Especially because I have Tracphone, and each text you send or receive takes up minutes, so I hate wasting them with pointless stuff like "lol" or "k". BQ: I don't reply. I just delete the text. Haha. Oh, but once I was texting a guy-friend for the first time. He said "lol" to the first text I sent and I totally lashed out at him for it, and asked him if he even wanted to talk to me, and if he did he shouldn't waste my time by just saying "lol".

Answer 6

It is just a part of the name coming from its identification as "Des Graven Hage" meaning "the count's private enclosure"

"The" Netherlands again is part of the name because the area was earlier known as "the" lowlands. However, as has been pointed out this is not incorporated in the official name which is simply "Nederland "

Answer 7

"Den Haag " This is old dutch spelling.
Exactly the word means "The Hedge".
The city " Den Haag" or "'s- Gravenhage" (that's the same) , is named afer "the hedges of the count."
des Graven Hage= the Count's Hedge.

Answer 8

So then how would goxy explain The Philippines, or The Sudan, or The Ukraine? Okay, the last two have recently been magically changed so that now we don't have to write "The" anymore. But the first one?

Answer 9

I suppose because the original Dutch name, Den Haag, contains an article, although strangely, they call their country "Nederland" in the singular and without an article. I'm confused now.

Answer 10

Why is it Weston SUPER Mare?


Vincent.
Hertog = Baron. PLUS, You gave a reasonable answer