Benamen

Benamen is a historical Dutch term used to describe the act of naming or designating someone or something. It is not used in everyday modern Dutch; contemporary standard Dutch prefers benoemen for the verb “to name” and benaming for “designation” or “term.” Benamen is encountered primarily in older texts, philological notes, or regional dialects, where writers sometimes employ archaic spellings or forms that no longer reflect current usage.

Etymology and relation to other terms are typically discussed in linguistic studies. Benamen is thought to be connected to related Dutch forms that derive from the noun naam (name) and to the broader Germanic family of terms for designation. In historical texts, benamen may appear in various inflected forms depending on dialect and period, reflecting older morphological patterns no longer standard in contemporary Dutch.

Usage and significance are limited today. Because of its rarity, benamen is mainly of interest to linguists, philologists, and historians studying the development of Dutch verb morphology and historical naming practices. When encountered in source material, it often signals older language strata or regional variation rather than standard modern usage.

See also: benoemen, benaming, naming in Dutch, Dutch etymology.