Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BEL'GIC, a. [L. belgicus, from Belgæ, the inhabitants of the Netherlands and the country bordering on the Rhine, from that river to the Seine and the ocean. The name may have been given to them from their bulk or large stature; W. balc, prominent, proud, from bal, a shooting out; Eng. bulge; Russ. velikai, great. See Pomp. Mela. lib. 3. 3, and 3. 5; Tac. Agric.; Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 2. 16; Herod. lib. 6; Strabo, lib. 4. Owen supposes the Welsh name, Belgiad, to have been given them, from their bursting forth and ravaging Britain and Ireland. But they had the name on the Continent, before their irruption into Britain.]

Pertaining to the Belgæ, who, in Cesar's time, possessed the country between the Rhine, the Seine and the ocean. They were of Teutonic origin, and, anterior to Cesar's invasion of Gaul and Britain, colonies of them had established themselves in the southern part of Britain. The country was called from its inhabitants Belgica, not Belgium, which was the town of Beauvais. See Cluv. Germ. Ant. 2. 2. Belgic is now applied to the Netherlands, called also Flanders, or that part of the Low Countries which formerly belonged to the House of Austria.