backveld, adjective and & noun
- Forms:
- Also back-veldt.
- Origin:
- AfrikaansShow more Partial translation of Afrikaans agterveld, see Agterveld.
A. adjective Of or pertaining to (isolated) rural communities; hence, unsophisticated, rough. Often in the collocation backveld Boer derogatory, an unsophisticated rural Afrikaans-speaking person. Cf. platteland adjective.
[1827 G. Thompson Trav. 115That the back-country boors of former times were many of them as savage, indolent, and unprincipled as Mr. Barrow has described, cannot be questioned.]
1991 F.G. Butler Local Habitation 105The results of the 1948 election and the government which the backveld vote put into power did give me some cause for reflection.
B. noun Often with initial capital.
a. Rural areas, often considered unsophisticated or unprogressive because remote from towns and their influence; Agterveld; gopse sense 1 a. Cf. bundu sense 1. See also platteland noun sense a, veld sense 4.
1911 E. London Dispatch 8 Nov. 6 (Pettman)In what way will a few visitors from the back veld equip the boys and girls for the battle of life.
b. The people inhabiting remote rural areas.
1949 C. Bullock Rina 32He looked at me gloomily with a professional air like the quack doctor who frightened half the backveld into being vaccinated with tinned milk.
Of or pertaining to (isolated) rural communities; hence, unsophisticated, rough. Often in the collocation backveld Boer derogatory, an unsophisticated rural Afrikaans-speaking person.
Rural areas, often considered unsophisticated or unprogressive because remote from towns and their influence; Agterveld; gopse sense 1 a.
The people inhabiting remote rural areas.
- Derivatives:
- Hence backvelder /-ˌfeldə(r)/ noun, one from the backveld; a rustic or unsophisticated person; takhaar sense b. Cf. plattelander (see platteland).1911 E. London Daily Dispatch 28 Oct. 3 (Pettman)Mr. —’s work will have considerable value as tending..to present the rugged backvelder in his true colours.1991 F.G. Butler Local Habitation 105A backvelder born, like myself, often has a stubborn belief that God made the country and man made the town.
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