berg, noun
- Plurals:
- unchanged, berge /ˈbɛrɡə/, or bergs.
- Origin:
- Dutch
1.
a. A mountain or mountain range. Also attributive.
1989 B. Godbold Autobiography. 127I longed to go up into the wall of the main berg, but the horses deserved the two days rest.
b. combinations
i. In the names of mountain peoples: see Berg Damara. See also Bergenaar, bergie sense 2. ii. In the names of fauna and flora usually of mountain origin, or displaying a preference for a mountain habitat:
berg adder /-ædə/ [Dutch, adder adder], the venomous snake Bitis atropos of the Viperidae; also attributive; cf. berg slang;
bergbaroe /-bəruː/ [Afrikaans, baroe see baroe], any of several species of the plant Cyphia of the Lobeliaceae, especially C. assimilis, C. bulbosa, and C. volubilis, distinguished from other varieties of Cyphia by an inedible tuber; see also baroe;
bergbas /-bas/, formerly also bergbast, [Afrikaans, bas bark (earlier South African Dutch bast)], the bark of the trees Colpoon compressum and Osyris lanceolata of the Santalaceae, used in tanning leather; one of these trees; also attributive;
berg canary, also berg-canarie, obsolete [partial translation of South African Dutch bergcanarie], any of several species of canary of the Fringillidae, especially the black-throated canary Serinus atrogularis, and the black-headed canary S. alario (blackhead sense 1 b); bergie sense 1; also called sysie (sense a);
berggans /-xans/, plural bergganse /-xansə/ [Afrikaans, gans goose], the Egyptian goose Alopochen aegyptiacus of the Anatidae; mountain goose, see mountain;
berggansie /-xansi/ [Afrikaans, berggans + diminutive suffix -ie; see quotation 1966], an aromatic Karoo bush of the genus Pentzia (family Asteraceae); see also Karoo bush (Karoo sense 2);
bergklapper /-klapə(r)/ [from Dutch klappen to rattle, clap] (a) the plant Tetraria secans of the Cyperaceae; (b) the plant Montinia caryophyllacea of the Montiniaceae;
berg lily, any of several species of bulbous plants bearing lily-like flowers and growing on mountain slopes, especially Galtonia candicans of the Liliaceae; Cape hyacinth, see Cape sense 2 a;
||bergskilpad /-ˌskəlpat/ [Afrikaans, skilpad (earlier Dutch schildpad) tortoise], the tortoise Geochelone pardalis of the Testudinidae; cf. skilpad;
berg swallow, berg zwaluw obsolete [South African Dutch, zwaluw swallow], the European bee-eater Merops apiaster of the Meropidae;
1818 C.I. Latrobe Jrnl of Visit (1905) 89A wood-keeper..had lately lost his life by the bite of a Berg-adder.
1844 J. Backhouse Narr. of Visit 102The Wolf of the Cape country is the Hyena, of which two species are found in the Colony: Hyena crocuta, the spotted hyena, sometimes called Berg Wolf, Mountain Wolf,..and Hyena villosa, the Straand Wolf.
iii. In place names: see quotations.
1849 N.J. Merriman Cape Jrnls (1957) 52On Sunday I..administered the Holy Communion to about 7 persons in the little school room, just below the Didima berg.
2. The Berg, occasionally also with small initial: The Drakensberg mountain range, especially those areas which are in KwaZulu-Natal. Also attributive.
A mountain or mountain range. Also attributive.
see Berg Damara.
the plant Tetraria secans of the Cyperaceae;
the plant Montinia caryophyllacea of the Montiniaceae;
see quotations.
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