◆ Lexicon
A working lexicon of West Germanic memory.
A curated record of words attested in elder voices across Dutch, Afrikaans, German, English, and West Frisian. Some are genuinely vanishing — words a 75-year-old uses naturally that a 25-year-old has to ask about. Others are alive but illuminating: words that travel between languages, words with no clean equivalent, words that have quietly displaced their predecessors.
◆
boer
/buːr/
noun
Farmer, peasant; (historical, capitalised) Afrikaner settler of Dutch descent in South Africa; (South African...
politically loaded
NL
AF
EN
bywoner
/ˈbəi̯.voː.nər/
noun
A landless white tenant who lived and worked on another's farm under a share-cropping or labour arrangement;...
vanishing
AF
deftig
/ˈdɛf.təx/
adjective
Distinguished, respectable, of good standing; (in elder use) dignified, decent, well-bred. In younger speakers'...
displaced
NL
AF
dorp
/dɔrp/
noun
Village, small town; (South African English) a small provincial town, often implying backwardness or insularity.
cross cultural
NL
AF
EN
krûd / kruid / kruie
/kryd/ /krœy̯t/ /krœyə/
noun
Herb, pot-herb, medicinal plant; (German) Kraut also means 'cabbage' and is the source of the English 'sauerkraut'.
vanishing
NL
AF
DE
FY
lekker
/ˈlɛkər/
adjective
Tasty, delicious; pleasant, nice, enjoyable; (South African English loan) good, great.
cross cultural
NL
AF
EN
oma / opa
/ˈoː.maː/ /ˈoː.paː/
noun
Grandmother / grandfather; informal Dutch and German kinship terms that displaced the older compound forms in...
displaced
NL
AF
DE
plaas
/plɑːs/
noun
Farm, agricultural homestead (Afrikaans); distinct from the Dutch 'plaats' (place, spot).
cross cultural
AF
stil / still / stille
/stɪl/
adjective
Still, quiet, silent; motionless; (as adverb) without sound or movement. Shared across English, Dutch, German,...
vanishing
NL
AF
DE
EN
FY
trapsuutjies
/ˈtrap.sœː.cis/
adverb
Slowly, carefully, step by step; literally 'tread softly (little steps)'. Used by elder Afrikaans speakers as an...
vanishing
AF
vuil
/vœy̯l/
adjective
Dirty, soiled; foul; (figuratively) obscene or dishonourable.
cross cultural
NL
AF
windvoel
/ˈvɪnt.fuːl/
noun
Vagabond, drifter, restless wanderer; literally 'wind-bird'. An archaic Afrikaans pejorative/descriptive for a...
vanishing
AF
witvoetjie soek
/ˈvɪt.fuː.ci ˌsuːk/
idiom
To curry favour; to ingratiate oneself; to seek someone's approval by flattery or servility. Literally 'to seek the...
vanishing
AF
NL
13 entries