AFRIKANDERS
SIR,—Mr. P. V. Suckling suggests that I am wrong to use the word " Afrikanders " to indicate the Afrikaans-speaking South Africans. He states that it should be " Afrikaners." So it should be, if I was writing in Afrikaans and not in English. "Afrikander," I submit, is the well- established and recognised English form of the word. Mr. Suckling is right in believing that this word describes a species of cattle ; but it has also been used to describe Cape Colonial half-castes at any time from about 1750 to 1920, dwell-known type of South African tobacco, and the famous Afrikander Bond. The late Dr. G. M. '1 heal used " Afrikander " throughout his history of South Africa (circa 1919). The Pocket Oxford Dictionary (1924) gives "Afrikander ": so does Elffers and Viljoen's English-Dutch Dictionary (Capetown, 1911), as well as " Africander," the simplified Dutch form being " Afrikaander " and the adjective " Afrikaans." Mr. Suckling declares that "South Africans are jealous of the distinction." It may be so, though I did not observe it during my twenty-five years' residence in the Union (1911-36).—Yours faithfully, ERIC A. WALKER. St. john's College, Cambridge.
Previous page
