tldr it means the court of the royal . it ' s home to many governmental institutions . It literally means The Hedge , which is used to refer to a royal ' s court in DutchNetherlandish . The official name is The Count ' s Hedge or Den Gravenhage . The Hedge literally means the area surrounding the hunting gardens of a Royal , in the same manner a court refers to a Royal ' s hunting gardens in French . The words court and hedge both took on the same legal meanings . So The Hedge literally meaning The Court . Den Haag has always been home to the Royal ' s legal courts , and nowadays also the parliament which are also referred to as the courts generale in many European languages . The Hedgecity in Netherlands , from Dutch Den Haag , short for ' s Gravenhage , literally the count ' s hedge i . e . the hedgeenclosed hunting grounds of the counts of Holland see haw n . . In French , it is La Haye . The Courtlate 12 c . , from Old French cort 11 c . , Modern French cour king ' s court , princely residence , from Latin cortem , accusative of cors earlier cohors enclosed yard , and by extension and perhaps by association with curia sovereign ' s assembly , those assembled in the yard company , cohort , from com together see com stem hort related to hortus garden , plot of ground see yard n . 1 . Sporting sense is from 1510 s , originally of tennis . Legal meaning is from late 13 c . early assemblies for justice were overseen by the sovereign personally . i s t h e r e a d e f i n i tearticlebeforehagueHague