The name of Zeeland (also Zealand, †Zeland, †Seland, †Sealand) is <Middle DutchZeeland, Zeelant, Seeland, etc. (DutchZeeland) <zeesean. + landlandn.1 It is attested in English from the late 14th cent. Compare:
(a1387)
His wyf and his children..he lefte hem at Andwerp in Selond [Latin Seland].
J. Trevisa, translation of R. Higden, Polychronicon (St. John's Cambridge MS.) (1882) vol. VIII. 335 (Middle English Dictionary)
[Composed a1387]
1443
Þe same wolles hydes..to carie..unto Zeland.
in H. Nicolas, Proceedings & Ordinances of Privy Council (1835) vol. V. 227 (Middle English Dictionary)
Meaning & use
c1400–
A native or inhabitant of the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands.
Zeeland is an agricultural province of the south-western Netherlands; it encompasses the estuaries of several rivers and much of its land is reclaimed from the sea.
c1400
When þis Arnolde was in þe hye see, he was taken wiþ Selanders [variant readings Seelanderes, Solendirs].
Brut (Rawlinson MS. B. 171) 235 (Middle English Dictionary)
1436
The town of Gaund have graunted hym XV Ml men..wythoute Hollanders, Zelanders, Brabanders, Ghelders, Hanawders that ben apoyntid unto the same nombre.
in Historical Manuscripts Commission: Rep. MSS Var. Coll. (1907) vol. IV. 197 in Parliamentary Papers 1906 (Cd. 3218) vol. LXIV. 1
1443
Lettres of inquisicion..to enquere who were takers of any of þe Hollanders & Zellanders goodes.
in H. Nicolas, Proceedings & Ordinances of Privy Council (1835) vol. V. 308 (Middle English Dictionary)
1523
For as for the holanders, and zelanders [French Zellandois], the warre of Flaunders touched then no thynge, they wolde nat therfore defende their marchaundyses to rynne.
Lord Berners, translation of J. Froissart, Cronyclesvol. I. f. cccxx/1v
1583
The Zealanders..with their long rusty prages, slew euery mothers sonne of them.
T. Stocker, translation of Tragicall Historie Ciuile Warres of Lowe Countriesiii. f. 133
1608
The Zeelanders [French Zeelandois] had a wonderfull rich bootie in all these shippes.
E. Grimeston, translation of J. F. Le Petit, Gen. Hist. Netherlandsix. 480
1656
She doth..make more..war upon the Spaniards, than do the Hollanders and Zealanders [Italian Zelandesi].
Earl of Monmouth, translation of T. Boccalini, Politick Touch-stone 397
1766
The Zealanders let their's [sc. madder] grow larger.
Complete Farmer at Madder
1805
A victory which the fleet of the Zealanders [1832 Zeelanders] had obtained over the grand fleet of Alva.
Syst. Geographyvol. III. 466
1855
Every merchant ship that cleared out from the Thames or the Severn would be manned by Zealanders and Hollanders and Frieslanders.
T. B. Macaulay, History of Englandvol. IV. xx. 485
1880
The neighbouring village of Zoeterwoude shook with the discharges of the Zealanders' cannon.
J. L. Motley, Rise of Dutch Republic (new edition) iv. ii. 577/2
1969
To see their ambitions fulfilled, promising young Zeelanders started turning to the mainland.
Financial Times 21 March 7/6
2013
Here one can experience the ruthless power of the sea—according to many Zeelanders a reminder why we have to continue to fight nature.
M. Drenthen in F. Clingerman et al., Interpreting Nature xi. 229
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
iːfleece
ihappy
ɪkit
ɛdress
atrap, bath
ɑːstart, palm, bath
ɒlot
ɔːthought, force
ʌstrut
ʊfoot
uːgoose
əletter
əːnurse
ɪənear
ɛːsquare
ʊəcure
eɪface
ʌɪpride
aʊmouth
əʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ãgratin
ɒ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
ifleece, happy
ɪkit
ɛdress
ætrap, bath
ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
ɑrstart
ɔcloth, thought
ɔrnorth, force
ʊfoot
ugoose
əstrut, comma
ərnurse, letter
ɪ(ə)rnear
ɛ(ə)rsquare
ʊ(ə)rcure
eɪface
aɪpride
aʊmouth
oʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ɑ̃gratin
æ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
gguy
jjay
yyore
chchore
khloch
shshore
ththaw
dhthee
zhbeige
Vowels
atrap
ahpalm
airsquare
arstart
arrcarry (British only)
awthought
ayface
a(ng)gratin
edress
eefleece
eerdeer
errmerry
ikit
ighpride
irrmirror
olot (British only)
ohgoat
oogoose
oorcure
orforce
orrsorry (British only)
owmouth
oyvoice
o(ng)salon
ustrut
uhletter
urnurse
urrhurry
uufoot
Forms
Variant forms
Middle English
Seelander, Solendir, Zellander
Middle English–1600s
Zelander
1500s
Selander, Zelender
1500s–1800s
Zealander
1600s
Sealander
1600s–
Zeelander
Frequency
Zeelander typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
Zeelander is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of Zeelander, n., 1770–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.