| 'n LIED vir BEGINNER-STUDENTE van Afrikaans [boodskap #8703] |
Mon, 03 March 1997 00:00 |
Izak Bouwer
Boodskappe: 463
Geregistreer: January 1996
Karma: 0
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VANAAND GAAN DIE VOLKIES
KORING SNY
Vanaand gaan die volkies koring sny,
koring sny,
en vanaand gaan die volkies koring sny,
koring sny,
my geliefde hang in die bos,
my geliefde hang in die bos,
my geliefde hang in die bitterbessiebos.
Tradisionele volkswysie.
Verwerk deur G.G. Cillie
Vanaand: this evening vanoggend/ vanmiddag/vanaand
volkies : probably grown up men, but of non-white
origin, serving as labour when cutting down
the wheat crop. (The dimunitive form used
here denotes some form of endearment, but
also condescension.)
Koring : in Afrikaans it is always "wheat." The North-
American "corn" is in Afrikaans "mielies" and
in English South African "maize."
Koringsny : to cut wheat "Ek sny koring."
My geliefde: my beloved
hang in die bos: hangs in the bush. Problematic
meaning at best, open to any kind
of interpretation. I always imagined
the beloved being caught and hung
out to dry like the bird in SA which
is called a "laksman" (hangman),in
SA English called a "butcherbird."
Bitterbessiebos: a bush with bitter berries.
The use of the word "volk" here is interesting. In
Dutch the word can mean both "nation" and also
quite frequently "the common people." This last
meaning of the word was obviously conscripted to
denote non-white workers in SA.
But, as the Afrikaners started to think of themselves
as a separate nation, the word "volk" also became a
nearly sacred word to many. In fact, it has become a
loaded word in SA. Some English South-Africans will
use it as a derogatory term for Afrikaners. Afrikaners
themselves, those that treasure Afrikaner nationhood,
will think of it as a nearly sacred term. It is significant
to me that in the Bosman/van der Merwe dictionary we
have, only the one meaning of "volk" is accentuated,
(volkswil, volksgees, volksmening...). The other meaning
does not appear. (An attempt at ethnic cleansing of a word?)
However, our South African English Dictionary (not the
latest version!) is quick to point out that both the meanings
of the word exist in SA English,both the derogatory "volk"
for non-white people, and the usually derogatory "volk" for
nationalistic Afrikaners.
The song "Vanaand gaan die volkies koring sny" was
however, I suspect, a product of the Cape Coloured people,
and they may have, for all we know, early adopted the second
meaning of the Dutch word ( "the common people") to
describe themselves, initially therefore with no pejorative
connotation. It may have been only later, adopted by the
whites, that it became a racial label.
Gloudina Bouwer
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