Liland wrote about places with an article: "The only one that comes instantaneously to my mind is the Dutch city "The Hague", which also has two Dutch forms, both with an article ("Den Haag" and "s'Gravenhage", I think; any Dutch 'catters want to correct my spelling?")"

Pretty good, it's: 's Gravenhage. The 's is also an article, the old-fashioned genitive des (we don't have a proper case system anymore in modern Dutch). 's Gravenhage means "the earl's hague", Den Haag (den is an old-fashioned article too) simply "the hague". It's customary to say Den Haag.

Another place with article: Den Bosch or 's Hertogenbosch, meaning "the wood", or the duke's wood.

My favourite Dutch placenames are Sexbierum (sex and beer, in Frisia, sadly it doesn't mean sex and beer etymologically) and Nooitgedacht (never thought, as in "never thought I'd ever visit this place). Oh, and Lutjebroek is a nice one too (meaning "small pants" in dialect).

Letty