a. Latin name of the territory occupied by the Belgæ, stretching from the Marne and Seine to the Rhine; b. subsequently used loosely as an appellation for Low Germany or the Netherlands; c. in 1830 adopted as title of the new kingdom established by the separation of the provinces watered by the Meuse and Scheldt from the kingdom of the Netherlands. Belgia = prec. b. Belgian, a., of or pertaining to Belgium; as sb. † a. one of the ancient Belgæ of southern England; † b. a Low German; c. a native of modern Belgium; d. a kind of canary. Belgic, a., of or pertaining to the Netherlands; sb. a Low German. † Belgies sb. pl. = BELGIAN sb. b.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., X. lxi. 267. By Embassies Spayne often mou’d to doe the *Belgies right.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 647. Called … of the *Belgics ‘Besonder Strael,’ of the Spaniards ‘Zangane.’
1618. Barnevelt’s Apol., F b. That difficult, bloudy and chargeable *Belgicke Warre.
1623. Cockeram, II. Netherland, *Belgian. Ibid., III. *Belgeans, People of the low Countries, Somerset-shire, Wiltshire and Hampshire.
1629. Heylin, Microcosm. … Germany is divided into the higher and the lower; the latter is called Belgium.
1631. Chapman, Cæsar & Pompey, Plays (1873), III. 128. Britaine, *Belgia, France & Germanie.
1709. Lond. Gaz., No. 4584/4. A neat and large Map of Modern *Belgium, or Lower Germany.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 313. Their *Belgic sires of old!
1835. Marryat, Olla Podr., vi. *Belgian flags, of yellow, red, and black.
1865. Derby Mercury, 25 Jan., 2/5. The crested *Belgians as they were styled … had five entries, and only a second prize was given.
