Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium of Belgium. It has a surface area of , or 55.18% of Belgium, and is also divided into 5 provinces which contain a total of 262 municipalities. Its capital is Namur. The official languages are French and, only in the nine eastern municipalities that form the German-speaking Community near the German border, German. Dutch however, may be used for administrative purposes in the four "municipalities with language facilities" at the border with Flanders, and German in two such municipalities near the German-speaking Community. The Walloon Region contains five provinces: Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Namur, Liège and Luxembourg. Communities, regions and language
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"