Gabriel Gaveau

[Paul S. Larudee]

"Nederland" means "lowland" in Dutch.  It translates into English as
"netherlands" and into French as "pays bas" (same meaning).  It refers
to the fact that much of Holland (The Netherlands) is below sea level,
which accounts for the dikes.  The Dutch refer to one of their provinces
as Holland, which means "highland," because it is above sea level. 
Ironically, English recognizes both highland (Holland) and lowlands (The
Netherlands) as alternate names of the same country.  There are
historical reasons for this, but haven't I bored you enough already?

Paul S. Larudee, RPT
Richmond, CA