kaptein, noun

Forms:
capitein, kapiteinShow more Also capitein, kapitein, kapteen, kapteijn, kaptijn, kaptyn.
Origin:
South African Dutch, DutchShow more South African Dutch, from Dutch kapitein leader, chieftain.
historical
1. A title bestowed by the early Dutch colonists on the indigenous leader of a village or a people; also used as a form of address, often with a name; captain.
1790 tr. of F. Le Vaillant’s Trav. I. 273A crescent or gorget, formed of the same metal (sc. copper) upon which is engraven in large letters the word capitein, is put round his neck as a badge of his dignity.
1806 Gleanings in Afr. (anon.) 238When they had conciliated the friendship of the chief, they acknowledged his authority, and dubbed him a capitein.
1824 W.J. Burchell Trav. II. 436I was sometimes styled Kaptéen (Captain), a word well known to all the native tribes who have any connection with the Cape Colony, and understood by them in the sense of ‘a chief’, or ‘a chieftain’.
1857 E.L. Layard in Cape Monthly Mag. II. July 58A Griqua named Hans Waterboer, a nephew of the late Andries Waterboer, the well-known Griqua Kaptyn.
1896 H.A. Bryden Tales of S. Afr. 260The kaptein..persuaded the vrouw to follow his own example, and roast wild duck or a joint of springbok in a Kaffir pot.
1924 S.G. Millin God’s Step-Children 82This Kapteijn Adam Kok, as he chose to style himself, once ruled a great land in Africa, and, when that was taken from him, led his people, Moses-like (but across mountains, not deserts) to a new home.
1928 E.A. Walker Hist. of S. Afr. 135Their tribal system was now far gone in decay; only two petty kaptijns and their clans still held land; the rest,..were either vagrants or miserably paid..farm-labourers.
1974 J.M. Coetzee Dusklands 66Long ago I had given Klawer a medal, which he had bored a hole through and hung around his neck. It gave him authority, he said, like that of the Hottentot kapteins who carried staffs of authority from the Castle.
1976 R. Ross Adam Kok’s Griquas 25It is best to see the !Kora as those who followed a style of life which entailed nomadic cattle herding and raiding in smallish hordes, led by a, theoretically hereditary, Kaptyn.
1982 Voice 24 Jan. 4Kaptein Mphephu’s banana-and-mango authority has already..claimed its first detention victim.
1987 B. Lau Namibia in Jonker Afrikaner’s Time 47The ‘kaptein’ as leader of the commando was able to extract tolls for the use of roads, royalties from European mining ventures, and fees for giving access to hunting velds.
1987 Financial Mail 22 May 6KwaZulu is to abolish such titles as Chief, Paramount Chief, Kaptein and Hoofkaptein and replace them with Zulu terms.
2. The formerly hereditary, now elected, leader of the Rehoboth Baster people of Namibia (see Rehoboth).
1946 L.G. Green So Few Are Free 198I had to apply to the ‘Kaptein’ of the Rehoboths before I could gather the threads of their strange story on the spot. They guard their borders jealously against strangers.
1952 L.G. Green Lords of Last Frontier 204Only one old Berg Damara was living at the hot springs when Kaptein Hermanus van Wyk led the Baster cavalcade up to the hill of pink granite where the present Rehoboth village stands.
1976 O. Levinson Story of Namibia 66In June 1970 the seven-man Baster Council, an advisory body with parochial powers, informed the Rehoboth Magistrate that it no longer recognised him as its Kaptein or Chief, a position he held ex officio.
1984 Daily Dispatch 30 Oct. 13The Rehoboth Liberation Front of Mr Hans Diergaardt, who was elected Kaptein of the Gebiet last month, took seven of the nine seats in the Volksraad.
A title bestowed by the early Dutch colonists on the indigenous leader of a village or a people; also used as a form of address, often with a name; captain.
The formerly hereditary, now elected, leader of the Rehoboth Baster people of Namibia (see Rehoboth).
Derivatives:
Hence kapteinship  noun.
1987 B. Lau Namibia in Jonker Afrikaner’s Time 28Jager Afrikaner died in 1823...One of his younger sons, Jonker, was not prepared to cede the kapteinship to his older brother.
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