Stelling

Stelling is a Dutch noun with several closely related meanings. In everyday and academic language, it most often denotes a claim, assertion or thesis that a speaker or writer puts forward for discussion. A person may innemen een stelling on an issue or een stelling poneren by presenting a point that will be supported or refuted. In argumentation, de stelling is something that requires evidence or reasoning, and it is expected to be underpinned by facts.

In mathematics and formal logic, stelling has a more specialized sense as a statement that can be proven. A stelling is typically a theorem or proposition, such as de stelling van Pythagoras (Pythagoras’ theorem). In this sense, a stelling is a mathematically verifiable claim whose truth can be demonstrated within a given system. The term is common in Dutch textbooks and literature; English equivalents include theorem or proposition, depending on context.

Etymology and usage notes: Stelling derives from stellen, meaning to place, set, or pose. The word is used across fields, but the nuance differs: in rhetoric, it means an asserted claim; in mathematics, it denotes a proven result. Related terms include these and proposite equivalents in other languages. In practice, context determines whether it should be translated as thesis, proposition, or theorem.