History of Dutch orthography has, in return, been accused of being even more inconsistent than "Het Groene Boekje". In Flanders, the white spelling is not used by any large media. History of Dutch orthography The history of Dutch orthography covers the changes in spelling of Dutch both in the Netherlands itself and in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in Belgium. The Dutch spoken between 1150 and 1500 is referred to as Middle Dutch. During this period there was no standardization of grammar. Authors generally wrote in their own dialects. Very often it is possible to tell from the language whether a text comes from
History of the Dutch language uuatare"" ("A fish was swimming in the water") and ""Gelobistu in got alamehtigan fadaer"" ("Do you believe in God the almighty father"). The latter fragment was written around 900. Arguably the most famous text containing what is traditionally taken to be Old Dutch is: ""Hebban olla vogala nestas hagunnan, hinase hic enda tu, wat unbidan we nu"" ("All birds have started making nests, except me and you, what are we waiting for"), dating around the year 1100, written by a Flemish monk in a convent in Rochester, England. The oldest known single word is "wad", attested in the toponym "vadam"