Afrikaans
/ˌæf.rɪˈkɑːnz/noun
A West Germanic language that developed primarily from Dutch as spoken at the Cape of Good Hope.
Did you know?Afrikaans emerged from seventeenth-century Cape Dutch and incorporated influences from Malay, Portuguese, Khoekhoe, San, and Bantu languages.
Etymological Timeline
Antiquity
Latin
Āfrica
“The Roman name for the region of North Africa; the deeper origin of the name is uncertain.”
17th Century
Dutch
Afrikaansch
“African; the Dutch adjective from which the language name developed.”
17th–18th Centuries
Cape Dutch
Afrikaansch
“The developing Dutch-based speech of the Cape, shaped by multilingual contact among settlers, enslaved people, and Indigenous communities.”
19th Century
Cape Dutch
Afrikaans
“A recognized spoken language increasingly distinguished from European Dutch.”
1925
South African English
Afrikaans
“Officially recognized as one of South Africa’s official languages, replacing Dutch in that role.”
Modern English
English
Afrikaans
“The standardized West Germanic language spoken chiefly in South Africa and Namibia.”