home, noun

Origin:
EnglishShow more Special sense of general English.
obs. except in historical contexts
Among South African-born English-speakers: England; Great Britain. Also attributive.
Note:
At one time common among the inhabitants of all former British colonies and territories.
1863 Lady Duff-Gordon in F. Galton Vacation Tourists (1864) III. 180How I have caught the colonial trick of always saying ‘home’ for England! Dutchmen who can barely speak English, and never did or will see England, equally talk of ‘news from home’.
1895 Star 26 Dec. 3 (advt)A lady recently from Home seeks a situation as Housekeeper. Best references.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 213Home, This word is employed by English colonists throughout South Africa when speaking of England, often even when they are African born and their parents too.
1920 R.Y. Stormberg Mrs Pieter de Bruyn 73Believe me: when it comes to a matter of hospitality we Home people don’t know anything about it.
1934 A.J. Barnouw Lang. & Race Problems 17‘Home’, in South African usage, is..a mere synonym for England..; I have heard a South African of Norwegian extraction speak of England as ‘home’, though he had never visited the British isles.
1949 Blueprint for Blackout (Educ. League) (pamphlet) 18Can we believe that if we let the children of the two language-groups mix..the sixty-three percent of Afrikaans-speaking children will soon all be speaking English, and talking of England as ‘Home’?
1969 M.W. Spilhaus Doorstep-Baby 114Well-to-do colonials sent ‘home’ for their clothes, and were apt to out-English the English in ceremonial observances.
1974 E. Prov. Herald 16 July 2‘We Afrikaners are proud that the English people are proud of being South Africans. Only their talk of “home” (Britain) upsets us,’ said Mr Fouche.
1981 A. Paton in Optima Vol.30 No.2, 93Afrikaner nationalists were angered by the way in which the English-speaking gave their first loyalty to the Empire and to the royal family..by the use of the word ‘home’, by the words ‘colony’ and ‘colonists’...I cannot remember having heard a born South African talk of Britain as ‘home’ for many years.
England; Great Britain. Also attributive.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18631981

Browse Related Words

By Category

Place and Region Names

By Origin

English

By Usage

obsolete or obsolescent
Hollard Street, noun phrasen. phr.home-boy, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English