The text known as 1643a from the corpus of early-Modern West Frisiantexts is here reinterpreted as a specimen of the Frisian language that existeduntil the 17th century in North Holland. While it is widely acknowledged thatFrisian was the language of Holland from the early Middle Ages, where itwas gradually replaced by Dutch from the 9th century, the language itselfwas only known through indirect evidence of place names, substratumwords and a few glosses. This text is the first coherent example of Frisianspoken in Holland. Although no author and/or location is mentioned, theHollandic origin can be identified on the basis of a number of features: itsplace of publication (Amsterdam) and the fact that it was addressed toyoung women in Amsterdam; the content of the verse, describing a practiceof courting common in North Holland in the 17th century; its linguisticfeatures which are on the one hand clearly Frisian, yet differ substantiallyfrom West Frisian as attested in the 17th century; and finally because ofmany linguistics features associated with the Dutch dialects of NorthHolland in the 17th-20th century.