Vreemte

Vreemte is a Dutch noun meaning foreignness or strangeness. Today it is largely archaic or poetic, and is rarely used in everyday language, where vreemdeling (foreigner) or vreemdheid (the quality of being strange) are more common.

Etymology: The word derives from the same root as the modern adjective vreemd ("foreign" or "strange"), itself from Middle Dutch vreemde, related to German fremd and English foreign.

Meaning and usage: In older texts, vreemte denotes the state or quality of being foreign or unfamiliar. It can refer to a person who is a stranger, but more often describes the sense of otherness attached to customs, ideas, objects, or people that lie outside the speaker's familiar domain. In poetry or philosophy, the term can carry a contemplative or negative tone, emphasizing distance, awe, or unease in the encounter with the unknown.

Context and decline: The word is now mostly found in historical writings, translations, or dialect literature. In contemporary Dutch, its usage is largely confined to stylistic or scholarly contexts.

Related terms: vreemdeling (foreigner), vreemdheid (strangeness), vreemd (foreign or strange).