this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Had the Netherlands already started getting land back from water in the 16th century?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

How'd that get its name? It sounds almost like a corruption of French "acheter mer" ("to buy sea").

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Achter means in a local sense 'at the back' or 'behind' and meer means either 'more' or means 'sea' (e.g. IJsselmeer).

So it referrs to either "more land behind" the city of Alkmaar or or a sea behind the city.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Lake, meer means lake. Achtermeer is best translated as back lake, or behind lake. Assuming achter in this case is used as this. It could also mean the lake of Acht. Since Acht could also be the name of a location. See Markermeer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

TY. Funny how German and Dutch switch meaning here:

  • meer – der See
  • zee – das Meer, die See.
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Achter is like aft or after (as in behind); meer is like mere (as in a lake). Aftermere would be an English bastardisation of the name.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think what @[email protected] means is that on the Ottoman map you kinda get France, and then directly on the coastline right north of France you get Jutland. It's sorta like if you took Europe and did a ripple cut to remove the Netherlands out of it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yup! That's what it looks like to me! After Denmark you get Sweden and Norway, and they're easy to close to the UK!