List of English words of Afrikaans origin

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Words of Afrikaans origin have entered other languages. British English has absorbed Afrikaans words primarily via British soldiers who served in the Boer Wars. Many more words have entered common usage in South African English due to the parallel nature of the English and Afrikaner cultures in South Africa. Afrikaans words have unusual spelling patterns.

Contents

Most of these words describe the African flora, fauna or landscape.

Internationally common

Common names

Afrikaans (or Cape Dutch) common names for plants and animals often entered the English vernacular:

Cape Dutch

There are also several English words derived from Cape Dutch, a forerunner of Afrikaans:

Common in South African English

There are almost innumerable borrowings from Afrikaans in South African English.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland spoken by the predominantly Dutch settlers and enslaved population of the Dutch Cape Colony, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boers</span> Descendants of Afrikaners beyond the Cape Colony frontier

Boers are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled Dutch Cape Colony, but the United Kingdom incorporated it into the British Empire in 1806. The name of the group is derived from Trekboer then later "boer", which means "farmer" in Dutch and Afrikaans.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afrikaner Calvinism</span> 19th-century Afrikaner cultural and nationalist movement

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Trek</span> 1836–1852 Boer migrations away from the British Cape Colony

The Great Trek was a northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyond the Cape's British colonial administration. The Great Trek resulted from the culmination of tensions between rural descendants of the Cape's original European settlers, known collectively as Boers, and the British Empire. It was also reflective of an increasingly common trend among individual Boer communities to pursue an isolationist and semi-nomadic lifestyle away from the developing administrative complexities in Cape Town. Boers who took part in the Great Trek identified themselves as voortrekkers, meaning "pioneers", "pathfinders" in Dutch and Afrikaans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veld</span> Type of rural landscape in South Africa

Veld, also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana. A certain sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa has been officially defined as the Bushveld by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Trees are not abundant—frost, fire and grazing animals allow grass to grow but prevent the build-up of dense foliage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trekboers</span> Historical group of pastoralists in Southern Africa

The Trekboers were nomadic pastoralists descended from European settlers on the frontiers of the Dutch Cape Colony in Southern Africa. The Trekboers began migrating into the interior from the areas surrounding what is now Cape Town, such as Paarl, Stellenbosch, and Franschhoek, during the late 17th century and throughout the 18th century. The Trekboer includes mixed-race families of partial Khoikoi descent that had also become established within the economic class of burghers.

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Boerewors, is a type of sausage which originated in South Africa. It is an important part of South African, Zimbabwean, Zambian, Botswana and Namibian cuisine and is popular across Southern Africa. The name is derived from the Afrikaans words boer and wors ("sausage"). According to South African government regulation, boerewors must contain at least 90 percent meat or fat from beef, pork, lamb or goat. The other 10% is made up of spices and other ingredients. Not more than 30% of the meat content may be fat. Boerewors may not contain offal other than the casings, or any "mechanically recovered" meat pulp.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volkstaat</span> Proposed state for Afrikaners of South Africa

The concept of a Volkstaat, also called a Boerestaat, is a proposed view to establish a white ethnostate of Afrikaners within the borders of South Africa, most commonly proposed as a fully independent Boer/Afrikaner nation. The concept excludes Afrikaans-speaking Coloureds but accepts South Africans of English ancestry and other White South Africans, if they accept Afrikaner culture and customs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huguenots in South Africa</span>

Many people of European heritage in South Africa are descended from Huguenots. Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony, but were absorbed into the Afrikaner and Afrikaans-speaking population, because they had religious similarities to the Dutch colonists.

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Boerehaat is an Afrikaans word that means "ethnic hatred of Boers" or Afrikaners as they became known after the Second Boer War. The related term Boerehater has been used to describe a person who hates, prejudices or criticises Boers or Afrikaners.

References

  1. "Resistance To Colonial Expansion, The Resistance Of The San, The Commando". New History. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  2. James, Wilmot G. and Mary Simons, ed. (9 January 2009). Class, Caste and Color: A Social and Economic History of the South African Western Cape. Transaction Publishers. pp. 13–15. ISBN   978-1412808651.
  3. Hamer, Mary. ""Chant-Pagan": Notes" . Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  4. McKenna, Amy (2011). The History of Southern Africa. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 12. ISBN   978-1-61530-312-0. Veld, meaning field in Afrikaans, is the name given to various types of open country in Southern Africa that is used for pasturage and farmland. To most South African farmers today the 'veld' refers to the land they work, much of which has long since ceased to be 'natural.'
  5. Meyer, Deon (2011). Trackers. Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated. p. 476. ISBN   978-0-8021-9513-5. Veld: Afrikaans for natural African bush vegetation, usually savanna grass and thorn trees, can also refer to grazing, field, or hunting ground.
  6. Greaves, Nic. The magic fish bones and other tales from Africa. p. 121.
  7. Hamer, Mary. ""The Parting of the Columns": Notes" . Retrieved 23 April 2012.