On Nov 7, 2011, at 8:47 PM, Raymond E. Feist wrote: > > On Nov 7, 2011, at 7:07 PM, Boudewijn Smidt wrote: > >> Lance, my understanding of South-African is that it is more a >> derivative from Dutch than any other language. Not doubting where your >> heritage lies, but Buitendag sounds more Dutch than German to me. >> Since they it's a combination of 2 words spelled exactly the same in >> Dutch (buiten & dag) and translating those words to german it would >> look like Austag. My returning on this subject is because it >> fascinates me. I like languages and their history and also my father >> has lived in former Rhodesia and South-Africa. > > > I studied a bit of linguistic history and Afrikaans is what is known as a > Dutch "patois" or "creole" depending on if you think it's merely a dialect or > a blending, which there is some debate on. > > The original settlers in the cape were Dutch fleeing religious issues in > Holland, but given their location, they quickly started interacting with > indigenous people, and European traders, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and > French, as well as Dutch, so words were borrowed, accents changed, etc. It's > why people who speak Dutch can sort of understand Afrikaans and vice versa, > but it's a lot like the linguistic evolution of English from Saxon to > Anglo-Saxon. > > Best, R.E.F. > ---- > www.crydee.com > > Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by > stupidity. > > > > > > >
BTW, this is for the non-SAers on the list, as I assume those of you in Afrika already know this stuff. Best,R.E.F. ---- www.crydee.com Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by stupidity.
