kalkoentjie, noun

/kalˈkʊɪŋki/, /kalˈkuɪŋci/
Forms:
calcoon, kalkoentjeShow more Also calcoon, kalkoentje, kalkoontjie, and with initial capital.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, kalkoen turkey + diminutive suffix -ie; see quotation 1936 at sense 1.
1. An orange-throated bird, Macronyx capensis of the Motacillidae; Cape lark, see Cape sense 2 a; cut-throat lark.
Note:
In G.L. Maclean’s Roberts' Birds of Sn Afr. (1993), the name ‘Orangethroated Longclaw’ is used for this species.
1835 T.H. Bowker Journal. 11 JuneShot three Calcoons this morning.
1862 ‘A Lady’ Life at Cape (1963) 79To scamper across these Flats is like riding on the top of a Scotch or Yorkshire moor, and only for the scream of some excited kalkoontjie..the scene is quiet and subdued.
1867 E.L. Layard Birds of S. Afr. 120Macronyx Capensis, Swain...Kalkoentje of Colonists, lit. Little Turkey...This handsome lark is common throughout all the open country.
1908 Haagner & Ivy Sketches of S. Afr. Bird-Life 120The Orange-throated longclaw..is known as the cut-throat lark or kalkoentjie (little Turkey).
1931 R. Bolster Land & Sea Birds 93Orange throated long-claw..Kalkoentjie, Cut-throat lark. The prevailing colour is sufficiently described as brown, mottled and striped above, the orange-red throat with black band below being enough to distinguish it.
1936 E.L. Gill First Guide to S. Afr. Birds 78Cape Longclaw, kalkoentjie, cutthroat lark...The name Kalkoentjie (little turkey) presumably referring to its red throat.
1937 M. Alston Wanderings 21Several ‘Kalkoentjes’ or orange-throated long-claws (handsome bird with a bright orange patch on the throat).
1967 E. Rosenthal Encycl. of Sn Afr. 280Kalkoentjie,..Cape Longclaw..a brown bird of the Pipit and Wagtail family.
2. a. Any of several flowering plants of the genera Gladiolus and Tritonia (family Iridaceae), with flowers resembling a turkey’s wattle, especially Gladiolus alatus, Tritonia hyalina, T. deusta and T. crocata. b. The plant Sutherlandia microphylla of the Fabaceae.
1906 B. Stoneman Plants & their Ways 198Gladiolus,..‘Painted ladies’ and ‘Kalkoentjes’ belong here. Eighty-one species of this large genus are found in South Africa.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 105Flowers bloomed everywhere in the warm sunshine — gladioli, ixias, iris, heaths, every shade of colour, from the crimson kalkoentje to the pure white chincherinchees.
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 45Kalkoentje, Gladiolus alatus.
1924 D. Fairbridge Gardens of S. Afr. 138The Gladiolus which is known locally as kalkoentje.
1928 Jrnl of Botanical Soc. of S. Afr. XIV. 9The Kalkoentje-allies contain some species well worthy of mention here. Perhaps the most striking, both in colour and form, is G. orchidiflorus, commonly called Green Kalkoentje.
1929 M. Alston From Old Cape Homestead 24As for the irrepressible little kalkoentjes,..they even have the audacity to bob up again after the plough has devastated the land.
1937 M. Alston Wanderings 77We found yellow nemesias and a new kalkoentje — Gladiolus namaquensis.
1949 Cape Times 13 Sept. 14Fields of gousblom, baby blue flax, lemon and mauve cineraria, lachenalias, blue bobbejantjies, kalkoentjies,..and other veld flowers.
1964 J. Meintjes Manor House 35The children always accompanied us on our walks to collect wild flowers: kalkoentjies, viooltjies, bobbejaantjies, freesias and the exotic aandblom.
1966 C.A. Smith Common Names 270Kalkoentjie, Several species of Iridaceae are known by this name: Tritonia hyalina; T. deusta and T. crocata..: Cormous plants...Gladiolus alatus..a cormous and dwarf species...It was the first of the kalkoentjies of the south western Cape to be named and one of the earliest Cape plants to be figured (1680)...The flowers and sometimes the plants of Sutherlandia microphylla..are also kalkoentjies because the red flowers recall the red wattles of a turkey.
1967 E. Rosenthal Encycl. of Sn Afr. 280Kalkoentjie,..Name given to a wild flower in the Western Cape and in Namaqualand.
1971 Cape Times 28 Aug. 1The display of cinerarias,..vygies, gousblomme and kalkoentjies would not be a mass of colour till mid-September.
An orange-throated bird, Macronyx capensis of the Motacillidae; Cape lark, see Cape sense 2 a; cut-throat lark.
Any of several flowering plants of the genera Gladiolus and Tritonia (family Iridaceae), with flowers resembling a turkey’s wattle, especially Gladiolus alatus, Tritonia hyalina, T. deusta and T. crocata.
The plant Sutherlandia microphylla of the Fabaceae.
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Afrikaans
kalander, nounn.2kalossie, nounn.
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