Hollandic

Hollandic is a historical term used in linguistics to denote the group of Dutch dialects spoken in the County of Holland and, later, the province of Holland in the Netherlands. It refers to the Early New Dutch and Middle Dutch varieties associated with that region and is recognized as one of the major regional branches of the Dutch language during the medieval and early modern periods.

Geographically, Hollandic varieties were concentrated in what is now North and South Holland, including urban centers such as Haarlem, Amsterdam, and Leiden. The dialects in this area were studied as a distinct branch because they exhibited phonological and lexical features that set them apart from neighboring dialect groups, such as Brabantian and West Flemish, in historical classifications.

Linguistically, Hollandic contributed to the emergence of standard Dutch, even as it remained primarily a vernacular dialect for much of its history. In modern dialectology, Hollandic is mainly discussed as a historical label used to describe the source material for the development of later Dutch standards rather than as a living, contemporary variety.

Today, references to Hollandic appear in studies of Dutch dialectology and historical linguistics, where it is used to understand regional variation and the evolution of the Dutch language prior to standardization.