noemwoorden

Noemwoorden is a term that appears in some Dutch grammars and language-education materials to describe words that name things or entities. The literal meaning is “name words.” In standard Dutch grammar, the common labels are naamwoord (noun) and its subtypes, such as eigennaam (proper name) and zelfstandig naamwoord (common noun). Noemwoord is not a universally adopted term and is primarily found in didactic contexts or older sources.

In practice, noemwoorden are words that designate referents and can function as the subject or object in a sentence. They cover concrete items like tafel (table) and hond (dog), as well as abstract concepts like vrijheid (freedom) or kennis (knowledge). Noemwoorden participate in noun phrases and can occur in various syntactic positions, for example: De kat slaapt op de mat; Amsterdam is druk deze dagen. The designation emphasis of the term is to highlight the naming function rather than grammatical role alone.

Relation to other word classes: noemwoorden are distinguished from voornaamwoorden (pronouns), which refer back to already mentioned referents rather than naming them anew, and from overige woordklassen such as adjectives, determiners, and verbs that serve different linguistic functions. In many modern grammars, the more precise terminology prefers naamwoord en its subcategories, while noemwoorden may appear in regional or educational contexts.

Examples of noemwoorden include kat, huis, Amsterdam, Jan, en boek. In sentences they act as the main referents: De kat ligt op de mat; Jan koopt een boek. Notitie: vanwege varyerende terminologie is noemwoord vooral van belang als historische of regionale didactische term, en wordt het in moderne linguïstiek minder gangbaar gebruikt. See also: naamwoord, eigennaam, voorznaamwoord.