kommetjie, noun

/ˈkɔməki//ˈkɔməci/
Forms:
comage, cometjeShow more Also comage, cometje, cometjie, comiche, commatje, commigee, commitje, commitjie, komeky, kometjie, komikie, kommeky, kommiekie.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch kommetje a small cup or basin (kom + diminutive suffix -ie); in Afrikaans, also with the transferred sens of a shallow, basin-like depression in the ground.
1. A cup or small basin. Also combination. kommetjieful noun.
1859 Cape Monthly Mag. VI. Nov. 277A dish of boiled fossil remains — alias bucksteaks; a tin of sweet potatoes,..a cometje of rocky salt, formed a repast, of which we breakfastless wayfarers made almost a clean sweep.
1872 C.A. Payton Diamond Diggings 108A Homeric repast had been eaten, and numberless glasses of Boer brandy been consumed by the men, and ‘kommetjes’ of coffee by their fair and fat spouses.
a1875 T. Baines Jrnl of Res. (1964) II. 16I then sent one of the Kafirs to wash the commigee.
1878 T.J. Lucas Camp Life & Sport 136The meal usually consisted of kid-flesh,..little ‘commitjies’, or bowls of milk, being placed by the side of each person in the absence of liquor.
1882 S. Heckford Lady Trader in Tvl 247My customers now expressed their desire to see some ‘kommekies’ (be it understood that a ‘kommeky’ is a small bowl used by the Boers instead of a cup — handles being inconveniently given to breaking on trek).
1882 J. Nixon Among Boers 178I..found him sitting up in his nightshirt, catching the water, which was trickling through the waggon tilt, in a small ‘cometjie’ or basin.
1896 H.A. Bryden Tales of S. Afr. 137She..drank a bare half kommetjie of coffee, parched though she was.
1896 H.A. Bryden Tales of S. Afr. 139Hendrika..gave him..the last kommetjeful of weak coffee.
1910 C. Meredith Peggy of Cape Town 20The old lady always inspected the kommetjes in which it was the custom for the servants to take food to their homes.
1920 S. Black Dorp 165She declared that her stomach was faint and that she needed something to ‘keep herself up’. A large kommetje full of butter-milk and a bunch of grapes contributed towards this.
1936 P.M. Clark Autobiog. of Old Drifter 119The gargantuan Hebrew angel brought out a comiche of proportions worthy of his own remarkable bulk, and started pouring gin into his huge enamel mug.
1938 Star 9 Dec. 19The babies were baptised with water from a Voortrekker ‘kommetjie’. After each christening the water..was decanted into another bowl and the ‘kommetjie’ used was given to the mother in remembrance.
1939 M. Rorke Melina Rorke 90Another Hottentot servant appeared with coffee in komikies — crockery basins, decorated in appallingly gaudy designs, with a bowl-like bottom and a wide rim...A wayfarer was certain of receiving a hearty welcome and a komikie of coffee.
1949 C. Bullock Rina 33Knives and forks, cooking pots, tin plates and kommetjies.
1949 C. Bullock Rina 92The boy brought us tea. Cooked in a kettle and poured into enamelled tin kommetjies, it was so rankly strong that a teaspoon would almost stand up in it.
1949 C. Bullock Rina 159The boy..asked me if I would not take a little of the beer. He poured some into my tin kommetjie and I drank.
1960 G. Lister Reminisc. 20His old coloured servant, Harry, signalled that he had only his own kommetjie (basin) left..(the Prince declared) he would not have the coffee unless it was in the kommetjie.
1963 A.M. Louw 20 Days 10He held one of the kommetjies, arranged on a silver tray around the coffee-urn.., and watched greedily whilst the amber liquid welled up against the translucent sides of the kommetjie.
1980 A.J. Blignaut Dead End Rd 100With the second kommiekie, he began to relate the story of Tjaart and the snake.
2. Geology. A shallow, saucer-like depression in the ground.
[1840 J.E. Alexander Narr. of Voy. II. 74Passing the Debe Nek we came upon a plain full of strange holes like large basins, hence this plain is called Commatje Flats.]
a1858 J. Goldswain Chron. I. 113We soon came to the comages flat..these comages or holes in the ground are from 6 to 10 feet Long and from 3 to 4 feet [across].
1875 J.J. Bisset Sport & War 149For the sake of shelter from the bullets I was deposited in one of these kometjes, or basins in the ground.
1907 T.R. Sim Forests & Forest Flora 2Towards the coast shale and mudstone are more frequent, the soil is often very shallow, and a feature of this part is the peculiar surface conformation known as ‘kommetjes’ in which flat or gently sloping ground overlying an impervious ironstone-gravel pan has the surface closely but irregularly pitted to a depth of about two feet while the adjoining ground is similarly elevated, it is said by the action of earthworms.
[c1933 J. Juta in A.C. Partridge Lives, Lett. & Diaries (1971) 159The bay is called Kommetjie or ‘little saucer,’ for it lies shallow and transparent against the cream-coloured sand.]
1962 C. Board Border Region 19A peculiar feature which is perhaps confined to this area is the occurrence of what are called kommetjies...They rather resemble a network of ancient gravel pits a foot or two in depth and are associated with the existence of giant worms.
1968 F.C. Metrowich Frontier Flames 117His stretcher-bearers thankfully deposited him in a kommetjie (a round saucer-like depression in the ground from which the plain takes it name), while they rested their weary limbs.
A cup or small basin. Also combination. kommetjieful noun.
A shallow, saucer-like depression in the ground.
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kommando, nounn.konfyt, nounn.
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