Talk:List of English words of Afrikaans origin

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Untitled[edit]

How can it be tested wether some of these words do not come from Dutch (or similar) in stead of Afrikaans? Bertus 07:48, 10 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Meaning of "commando"[edit]

I am not sure that commando derives from Afrikaans, but in any case the Afrikaans would be "kommando", generally meaning "voluntarily citizen's militia".

One can also speak of being "op kommando", referring to being busy with tasks associated with a citizen's militia, usually while moving through the countryside.

One of the most famous uses of the word is in "Commando: a Boer journal of the Boer War" (1929) by Denys Reitz.

"Commando" in the above senses is not the equivalent of the modern concept of a professional special forces soldier, although something of both the older and recent meanings remain combined in the term "commando raid".

DocDee

The word "Commando" is indeed of Afrikaans origin. Her majesty's Royal Marines, the "Green Berets" were the first official special forces to adopt the word following Britain's conflict with the Boers in the wars in South Africa. The first unit created by Lt. Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. Clarke took the name as they would emulate the guerilla tactics of the Boer Kommando's.

This can be found in the existing Wikipedia entry for Commando - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commando

Raggedyman

-----------------  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.134.216.82 (talk) 06:43, 27 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I dont think there is an english word for "boomslang" - Cam

The English word is "boomslang" ;) 惑乱分からん 11:12, 3 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The word "commando" does indeed originally derive from the Afrikaans word "kommando" and yes, its Afrikaans meaning is more in line with what we know as a "militia" in English. However, "kommando" in turn derives from the Portuguese word "comando" which means a small group of men under a common command.

Another Afrikaans word with Portuguese origins is "mielie", which is "milho" in Portuguese. Would one be able to say that South African English speakers use "mielie" more often than not for maize and therefore I could add it as another South African English word taken from Afrikaans? - Arohemq 01:19, 5 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The most versatile Afrikaans word[edit]

Lekker! The word "lekker", pronounced "lak-er", means nice - loosely - but is also very commonly used like "very", and it can be placed next to E V E R Y T H I N G!

"Ek is lekker honger" - I am very hungry.

"Jy is lekker mal" - You are quite mad.

"Hy het lekker seer gekry" - He was quite badly hurt.

"Dit was nou lekker!" - That was very nice!

"Jy is nie fokken lekker nie" - You are not right in the head.

"Lekker!" - Serves you right!

This word has also colloquially been incorporated into English, mostly synonymous with NICE but not uncommonly used like the above examples. Jkjambsj (talk) 18:20, 14 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Shame on Ernie[edit]

Ernie's exclamation couldn't be translated on air as it is quite rude. "Doos" is the modern Afrikaans for the Dutch "kardoes", which is a box. I think, specifically a cardboard box. It is nowadays used as an insult or an expression of anger and frustration, and it refers to a vagina. 196.211.149.66 11:31, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Profanity taken up by the English[edit]

This article makes no mention of the Afrikaans profanity that has infiltrated the English language, such as doos, kak, and other more unmentionable terms starting with a p. Can anybody find sources for this to substantiate a mention in this article? It is a pretty common occurrence in ZA that English speaking people with no knowledge of Afrikaans will use its curse words. — Adriaan (T★C) 15:05, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Voetstoots[edit]

The article states "voetstoots meaning as is or as it stands [1] (literally: to push with the foot)". I have my doubts about the literal translation for this. EDIT: The literal translation is 100% correct. "Voet" is Afrikaans for "foot" and "stoot" is Afrikaans for "push". The Dutch word "voetstoot" can be roughly translated to "foot-bump" however there is also the word "vaststaand" which means literally something like "Fixed-standing" of more loosely just as "Fixed" (alternately "het staat vast", in english "it is fixed/It is that way"). In a lot of dialects in The Netherlands the "a/aa" sound is often lowered to almost an "o/oo" sound. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.131.168.246 (talk) 18:01, 10 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Leguan/leguaan/likkewaan[edit]

Is there any evidence that leguan or leguaan is derived from likkewaan? They are obviously related, but I think it seems more likely that legua(a)n came before likkewaan rather than from it. Likkewaan is derived ultimately from the Spanish iguana via Dutch leguaan, adapting its phonology to be more Afrikaans-sounding. Compare Dutch pinguin > Afrikaans pikkewyn. Booshank (talk) 21:47, 1 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oxford says leguan, leguaan, and likkewaan are used in South Africa to mean large South African monitor lizards (e.g. the water liguan and the rock leguan), with an origin "late 18th century: from Dutch, probably from French l'iguane 'the iguana.'" Agyle (talk) 03:28, 16 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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