English-speakers used to use it to mean all non-Scandinavian Germanic peoples. When the Netherlanders became a distinctly separate group Britain had way more contact with them than with anyone else that the word used to cover, so we used it to refer to them specifically
If I remember correctly, this is also one of the leading explanations why the Pennsylvania Dutch are called like that even though they speak German (or a German dialect).
Germans in America were a massively more influential subculture before WWI. Notably: not because of WWI. The heart of German-American culture was in New York City, where all the richest families took a boat for a holiday cruise, and one year it sank.
English-speakers used to use it to mean all non-Scandinavian Germanic peoples. When the Netherlanders became a distinctly separate group Britain had way more contact with them than with anyone else that the word used to cover, so we used it to refer to them specifically
interesting! thank you for the explanation :)
If I remember correctly, this is also one of the leading explanations why the Pennsylvania Dutch are called like that even though they speak German (or a German dialect).
Germans in America were a massively more influential subculture before WWI. Notably: not because of WWI. The heart of German-American culture was in New York City, where all the richest families took a boat for a holiday cruise, and one year it sank.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_General_Slocum#1904_disaster
TIL that “dutch” and “deutsch” comes from the same root!