Talk:Zealand

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[edit] New Zealand

The nation of New Zealand gains it's name from this island. When the Island was discovered by a Dutch explorer, it was named after the Dutch Province of Zeeland. However, the English mistakenly thought it had been named after Zealand, and referred to it as New Zealand.

I'd very much like to see a reference for this, because every other reference I have seen explicitly contradicts this - Zeeland was the name which inspired New Zealand, not Sjaelland. Zealand is/was the English translation of the Dutch province of Zeeland. --kudz75 01:42, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I think that there are nothing that will stop you from removing it (and the notice in the disambig line), and adding a note about that New Zealand was not named after the island, also adding a note in the edit summary to check the talk page. If there is anyone out there that comes up with any evidence, take a discussion about it. -- Elisson | Talk 13:32, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I think it is enough that the disambiguation text at the start refer to the accepted explanations.--Per Abrahamsen 20:42, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

"However, the Dutch state Zeeland was named after Danish merchants who traded with the Dutch." - That's ridiculous Zeeland means "land of the sea" and does not in any way refer to the Danes. I remove this statement. MaartenVidal 21:16, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

And "Sjælland" means the exact same thing. You're right; there is no conncection. --dllu 11:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Groningish

an excerpt from the article:

When the Pacific Ocean island was discovered by Groningish explorer Abel Tasman...

What does Groningish mean? Best solution would be to wiki-link it... but the word is completely strange to me. -- Fudoreaper 07:39, July 30, 2005 (UTC)

I suspect it means that he came from the city or province of Groningen... But I've never seen the word either... --Thf1977 12:12, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

Changed to Groninger Theodore W. 09:36, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Okay, cool. But how does that help us understand the meaning? groninger is still a red-link. -- Fudoreaper 00:02:09, 2005-08-06 (UTC)
Should be linked to Groningen (province)Theodore W. 06:27, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
Thanks, Theodore W. I updated the link just now, works perfectly. -- Fudoreaper 18:32:03, 2005-08-12 (UTC)

[edit] Souls and seals

I have deleted this remark under etymology:

"In ancient Danish seal (sæl) and "soul" (sjæl) are very closely related words, as seals were thought to be souls of lost seamen."

The two words are unrelated (cf. Niels Åge Nielsen, Dansk etymologisk ordbog, 1990, s.vv. sæl and sjæl). 192.38.32.3 14:49, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

You're right, as mentioned above "Sjælland" simply means "Land of/by the Sea", just like Zeeland in Netherland. --dllu 11:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)
Not necessarily. Den Store Danske Encyklopædi explains the etymology thus
Sjælland, (ca 950 Selund, af glda *sial 'fure' eller dyrebetegnelsen sæl og afledningsendelsen -und) ...
that is, the first part might mean "furrow" or "seal", the marine mammal. I have also seen the "sea" etymology in other respectable sources, though (but note that the Danish cognate of "sea", "sø", means "lake"). If there is to be any etymological information in the article, the main point should be to state that the origin of the name is uncertain ("contested" would be too strong, I think). At least everybody seems to agree that the first component was not originally homonymous with sjæl "soul". –Henning Makholm 01:39, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Seal and steal

I've read a passage of old norse mythology giving another explanation to the name. In this story, a god in disguise of a man with two oxes come to the king of present Mälaren Valley-area and asks for some land. The king agrees that he will be given the amount of land he with his oxes can plough in one day. His oxes having supernatural powers, he manages to plough the whole of the area today being the lake Mälaren. After having ploughed the land, he dug it free and attached it to his oxes and made them swim out in the Baltic sea. All the way down to outside of the coast of Scania he made them pull the stolen land. Hence the lake Mälaren and the island Sjælland, "steal-land", from the word for steal, today "stjæle". Can anyone confirm or present evidence against? Yenx 20:24, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mythology

I don't think the text of the norse mythology is correct. If I remember correctly this story is only Swedish mythology, and in fact written during the middle ages as fake norse mythology. The same stories that claims Odin to by a swedish king.

The Gefion myth is as much an "authentic" myth as any other. Of course it wasn't written down until the Middle Ages, but neither were any other Norse myths. There is no evidence that the form in which we know it today was any more or less "fabricated" than any other myths. --dllu 11:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Greenland

Shold there not also say, that technically it is Greenland that is the bigges island of Danmark. Since it is considet Greenland is an island, and a part of Danmark?

Greenland is technically part of the monarchy, but it is self governing and not a part of Denmark proper. I don't think you will find many Danes who consider Greenland a Danish island (let alone Greenlanders!). --dllu 11:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)


Now that really really wrong. Every dane thinks of Greenland as a danish isle. Just like every dane think Sjaelland a danish island.

- Skadi —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.48.185.54 (talk) 20:49, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

"Every Dane" knows (or really, really ought to know) that "Danish" can be used to refer either to the entire kingdom, or to its Danish-speaking part (i.e. Jutland and islands east thereof). Most Danes would probably not consider either of these usages "wrong" – except for the kind of wrongness inherent in using ambiguous wording in an encyclopedia, in a context that does not clearly resolve the ambiguity. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Henning Makholm (talk • contribs) 23:25, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Added Geobox and named maps

02-Sep-2007: The article "Zealand" was created 6-April-2002, as text-only. After 2.3 years as text, the crude unlabeled pink-red map was added in 2004 (which showed Zealand+Amager merged as one mass). In September 2007, I added the standard "Geobox" plus new labeled maps that show Zealand, in context with other named islands and cities. The separate island Amager now appears as shown separate from Zealand, after 3 years of displaying the merged-islands map. Maps showing several named cities, with kilometer/miles scale, have been used in Wikipedia articles since 2005, as in: "Middletown, New Jersey" (English Wikipedia). -Wikid77 13:21, 2 September 2007 (UTC)