2922: Possessive Form in Dutch Place Names Dec 21, 204

Many Dutch cities, such as 's-Hertogenbosch, 's-Gravenhage, 's-Heerenberg, and 's-Gravendeel have spelling that looks impossible to an English speaker. The 's beginning is a contraction of the genitive definite article ‘des’, meaning "of the" indicating that these places were once lands or settlements owned by dukes, counts, or lords. For example, 's-Hertogenbosch means "the forest of the duke," and 's-Gravenhage means "the enclosure of the count". Alternatively these places are now more commonly known as Den Bosch and Den Haag (“The Hague”) respectively, which use the dative form (not the subject).

This is a snapshot of fairly old Dutch. In Modern Dutch, this form of the genitive is hardly used, and 's-Hertogenbosch would be “Bos van de Hertog” even in more recent, 19th century Dutch this would have been “Bosch des Hertogs”.