I know Brill is the name of publishing house. What I didn't know-- though I suppose most of you did -- was it was also the name of William's lead ship when he invaded England.
From Wikipedia:
With a Dutch army, William landed at Brixham in southwest England on 5 November 1688. He came ashore from the ship Brill, proclaiming "the liberties of England and the Protestant religion I will maintain".
No connection. The publishing company is named after its 19th Century owner, Evert Jan Brill. The firm was previously owned by the Luchtmans family, and under that name dates back to the 17th Century.
John, No, no real connection. I suppose the ship name referred to the city, or perhaps the battle fought there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brielle
Still, a curious coincidence.
Now I would like to know when the Dutch started to use “losing his bottle”, does it have the same connotation as the English?
Tim
Captured from web.archive.org on 30 Jul 2014. view this capture