blommetjie, noun

Forms:
bloemetje, bloemmetjeShow more Formerly also bloemetje, bloemmetje, blommetje.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, blom (earlier Dutch bloem) flower + diminutive suffix -ie.
1. A small flower. Also attributive.
1904 Argus Christmas Annual 12 (Pettman)There was that wonderful valley of the lake with the bloemetjes and the scent-laden avond bloem.
1913 D. Fairbridge Piet of Italy 46And all roun’ me hedges of pink roses an’ purple bloemmetjes.
1924 D. Fairbridge Gardens of S. Afr. 119The Government..is..prohibiting the uprooting or sale of a few of the more rare bulbs and plants — but it is easier to make such a law than to enforce it on the flower-sellers, to whom every flower is just a blommetje.
1936 E. Rosenthal Old-Time Survivals 13Examine a good one (sc. wagon) carefully and you will notice quaint little ornaments in many colours painted along the sides of the frame. These are the traditional ‘blommetjies’ or flowers on which the conservative farmer insists, just as did his ‘oupa’.
1949 L.G. Green In Land of Afternoon 127Many farmers rightly insist on the traditional hand-painted blommetjie decorations on wheels and sides, the same bunches of flowers that have adorned wagons for more than a hundred years.
1990 S.I. Ross Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)The buses are decorated with carvings and tassles and blommetjies and bells — you wouldn’t believe it.
2. Elliptical for waterblommetjie (sense a).
1981 S. Afr. Panorama Dec. 21The demand for blommetjies has shot up to such an extent that their natural habitat, the vleis or marshlands of the Cape, are being positively denuded.
A small flower. Also attributive.
Elliptical for waterblommetjie (sense a).
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19041990