kiepersol, noun

/ˈkipəsɒl//ˌkipəˈsɒl/
Forms:
kippersol, kippersollShow more Also kippersol, kippersoll, kippe-sol.
Origin:
Afrikaans, Indian English, PortugueseShow more Afrikaans, adaptation of obsolete Indian English kittisol parasol, especially a Chinese parasol of paper and bamboo, from Portuguese quitasol, quitar to take away, ward off + sol sun, see quotation 1966; but see also quotation 1954.
Any of several evergreen trees of the genus Cussonia of the Araliaceae, with umbrella-shaped crowns; cabbage tree; nooisboom; samareelboom; umbrella-tree. Also attributive.
1879 O.E.A. Schreiner in C. Clayton Woman’s Rose (1986) 19Upon the summit of the precipice a kiepersol tree grew, whose palm-like leaves were clearly cut out against the night sky.
1883 M.A. Carey-Hobson Farm in Karoo 120The place was full of wild pigs...Generally they had plenty of bulbs and the roots of the Kippersoll trees to eat.
1893 ‘R. Iron’ Dream Life 26A kippersol tree.
1893 ‘R. Iron’ Dream Life 29She..cut at the root of a kippersol, and got out a large piece..and sat down to chew it. Kippersol is like raw quince.
1893 ‘R. Iron’ Dream Life 34No food but kippersol juice for two days.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 261Kippersol,..The name has been given in South Africa to a tree — Cussonia Thyrsiflora — which grows something like an umbrella in shape.
1954 K. Cowin Bushveld, Bananas & Bounty 78We discovered that the name of our district, Kiepersol, meant more than that of an indigenous tree. The tree itself is of two varieties..cussonia spicata and cussonia umbellifera, and according to legend the umbellifera..was first called Kiepersol by the Cape Malays, whose word for monkey is kie and for umbrella is the Afrikaans word persols and the combination results in the picturesque name of Monkey’s Umbrella.
1966 C.A. Smith Common Names 290Kiepersol (boom),..The vernacular name is an interesting corruption of the Portuguese ‘quita-sol’ (excluding the sun), though more directly from the Indian ‘Kitty-sol’ or ‘Kippe-solis’, names used for a type of light bamboo and paper parasol, the ‘Chinese umbrella’. These terms are in themselves corruptions of ‘quita-sol’ introduced by the Portuguese in the 16th century, the Indian term being eventually employed at the Cape for C. thyrisiflora on account of the umbrella-like crown of leaves and so gave origin to the alternative name of Sambreelboom.
1970 D.E. Aboud Informant, Bloemfontein, Free StateThe Kippersol tree is a common sight in the veld. (Kippersol is the Afrikaans word for the parasol tree.)
1972 Palmer & Pitman Trees of Sn Afr. III. 1691Most of the species [of Cussonia] are known as ‘kiepersol’...The name travelled to the Cape where it was first used for the Cussonia species common around Cape Town, Cussonia thyrsiflora Thunb., and is now a general name for all the cussonias with their parasol-like mops of leaves at the ends of the branches.
1976 A.P. Brink Instant in Wind 93They’ve been forced to rely on what Adam could provide to quench their thirst, mainly wild figs and the watery bulbs of kiepersol roots.
1987 S. Afr. Panorama June 49The kiepersol, also known in English as the cabbage tree, has been named..as the tree of the year of 1987.
1991 [see cabbage tree].
Any of several evergreen trees of the genus Cussonia of the Araliaceae, with umbrella-shaped crowns; cabbage tree; nooisboom; samareelboom; umbrella-tree. Also attributive.
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Afrikaans
Portuguese
kiep, kiepie, nounn.kierie, nounn.
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