About six years ago, when I was studying Dutch in Belgium, I remember my surprise when I learned that the Dutch word for 'floor' is 'verdieping', and then saw the word 'étage' (the French word for 'floor') in a shopping mall in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, a country whose official language is also Dutch. Upon returning to Antwerp, I remember asking a colleague of mine for an explanation, and her saying "it's probably about the differences in history and politics; how Dutch people perceive French versus how Flemish people see French language, based on a long and complicated history."

Another interesting point for me, as a student of Dutch, was the word 'wiskunde', Dutch word for 'mathematics'. I was curious about it, because in many European languages, such as German, which is the closest language to Dutch, the Greek root 'μάθημα' (máthēma) is used. How on earth did we end up with a very different word for mathematics in Dutch?

This beautiful book not only gave definitive answers to my two questions above, but it also took me on a very exciting journey spanning more than 10 centuries. The title and cover of the book might give the impression that it's a dry, academic text, intended only for the specialists working in the obscure details of history and sociology of Dutch, but let me assure you that the first few pages would erease that impression. Even though the author is an expert professor in the history of Dutch, his sense of humour, combined with sharp observations will make you giggle, if not laugh out loud while reading some of the pages. But make no mistake, you'll see that every claim in the book is painstakingly sourced, and ample further reading and bibliographic notes provided for more curious students of Dutch. Having such a definitive and extensive source for the history of Dutch written in English is an intellectual gift for people like me whose Dutch is not still very fluent.

In about 250 pages that almost read like a page-turner, the author was able to teach me not only the very interesting history of Dutch, but also a lot about the history of the region where Germanic languages started to flourish, as well as how Dutch spread in other parts of the world, such as Suriname, South Africa, USA, and other places. Thanks to that, I can now interpret some of the current debates in Belgium and the Netherlands better, and also know how to learn more about the past to understand the present.

In a nutshell, I definitely recommend this book to all the students of Dutch, as well as people who are curious about the history of Germanic languages. The high quality of the book motivated me to read the other related book in the series: "German - Biography of a Language".

Wat kan ik nog meer zeggen? Heel hartelijk bedankt Prof. Willemyns! ( )