In German das Meer means the sea – zee in Dutch. Die See means the lake – meer in Dutch.
We see that these words are used reciprocal to the Dutch words for sea and lake. Why is that? Meer in Dutch means more too. Does the German meer has a comparable meaning, so maybe this is the reason for the different usage, because there is more (meer) water in the sea?
In German we have the homophone but differently spellt word 'mehr' in the meaning of more.
As to the difference of the Dutch and German for zee and meer vs der See and das Meer: it is true, but not so clear. There is also die See with the same meaning as das Meer (zee). This reflects also in the German names for North Sea (Nordsee) and Baltic sea (Ostsee), but also the names of many lakes in northern Germany like 'Steinhuder Meer', 'Zwischenahner Meer' etc.
Generally the meaning of the words in the northern German dialects used to be identical to the Dutch usage while in southern German dialects saw usages as in standard German nowadays.
The German feminine noun "die See" doesn't mean English "lake" or Dutch "meer". Here are the correct translations:
| German | English | Dutch |
|---|---|---|
| das Meer | the sea | de zee |
| die See | the sea | de zee |
| der See | the lake | het meer |
| mehr | more | meer |
Etymologists are sure that both German nouns "der See" and "die See", the English noun "the sea" and the Dutch noun "de zee" have the same etymological root, but it is unclear what exactly this common root is. Some say it comes from an old word for "water bucket" or "tub". Others think it might be related to a verb that means "to pour" or "to drip", and there is also another old word that sounds similar which means "water collecting in rivulets".
All in all it seams to me as if the ancestor of See/sea/zee was used for smaller amounts of water at the beginning (like ponds and lakes) and then got used more and more for bigger water bodies.
This word was in latin language "mare" and was a synonym for "oceanus" and both words meant the sea, the ocean. But similar words in related old languages meant "bog, marsh" or "morass" (German: Moor, Sumpf, Morast, Marschland) but also pond (Ger: Teich) or puddle (Ger: Pfütze, Pfuhl)
Also these words are cognates and the common ancestor meant "big", "famous", "wellknown". Another offsprings of this etymological root are German "die Mär" and "das Märchen" (Engl: story, fairy tale)
Both word groups around the words ["das Meer", "het meer"] and ["der/die See", "the sea", "de zee"] have been used in many Germanic languages to name bodies of standing water of any size (puddles, ponds, lakes, seas and oceans).
Agree with previous posters, but I see the word "Meer" being used as a word play between "more" and "sea/ocean".
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1183233818481715
Also used in a series from ARD Verrückt nach Meer which means something like "crazy about / longing for the see", but has the word play that you want more. (the series is a docusoap about cruise liners and their guests)
There are several other similar word plays in German.
Für einen Kommentar etwas zu lang, jedoch noch ohne Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit.:
Angenomen, in Holland herschen in Küstennähe salzhaltige Seen vor, wäre das ein entscheidender Unterschied. Wo Meerwasser ist, da ist Meer, leuchtet doch ein.
Da See wiederum von unsicherer Herkunft ist, lässt sich wenig über diesen Wandel sagen, außer dass Englisch zumindest mit der Oranje übereinstimmt, doch auch zu Deutsch heißt es noch Hochsee. Der Bodensee könnte auch als kleines Meer gelten, wenngleich die Salzhaltigkeit dabei dann keine Rolle spielen dürfte, was geradezu paradox wäre angesichts sel "Salz" als plausiblen Ansatz unter kompensatorischer Längung (als ob *Sel-Meer)
