land, noun

/lænd/
Origin:
Dutch, AfrikaansShow more Calque formed on Dutch (and subsequently Afrikaans) land a piece of ground, a field; a country.
1. A field; a portion of farm land under crops, or suitable for cultivation. Frequently in the plural.
1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. I. 358The Colonies are encreasing daily, and daily taking in new Lands for Tillage.
1806 J. Barrow Trav. I. 5At the feet of the hills..are several pleasant farms, having gardens well stored with vegetables for the table, vineyards, and extensive corn lands.
1821 G. Barker Journal. 11 Sept.Began to cut down thorns to fence my wheat land, the cattle being every day in it.
1841 B. Shaw Memorials 243I came to a number of women working in a garden, or, as it might with more propriety be called, a small corn land.
1842 J. Collett Diary. II. 6 Apr.Ploughed one Land and sowed Barley.
1851 N.J. Merriman Cape Jrnls (1957) 172Not so the Dutchman, who either welcomes you, or at the most comes and tells you, he hopes you will take care that your horse does not get upon ‘the land’, that is, among the standing corn, which is never enclosed as it is in England.
1871 E.J. Dugmore Diary. 19 Oct.The huts of the natives further on with their lands and gardens about them looked quite picturesque.
1896 H.A. Bryden Tales of S. Afr. 248She had..some good tobacco ‘lands’, which yielded no mean profit each year.
1905 E.A. Nobbs in Flint & Gilchrist Science in S. Afr. 378Even in our more highly-cultivated grain-growing districts, the ‘lands’ — that is, the cultivated fields — only occupy a fraction of the whole farm.
1905 P. Gibbon Vrouw Grobelaar 46One day the Kafirs came in from the lands and would not work any more.
c1911 S. Playne Cape Col. 39The bulk of the heavy work at the home and in the mealie ‘lands’ is done by the women.
1926 P. Smith Beadle (1929) 20Her youngest son..remained at the homestead working the lands with his father.
1930 Friend 25 Aug. 12Lands — Excellent for all kinds of grain; at present there are lands for 16 bags of mealies, but more lands can be made.
1956 F.C. Metrowich Valiant but Once 12About forty years ago the grave was dug up by some farmers while they were making a land.
1966 E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo 297Dust enveloped the world. Maurice and Sita could not even see where the lands had been.
1971 Farmer’s Weekly 12 May 102The farm Delarey..measuring 603 hectares (702 morgen), comprising approximately 256 hectares lands, and the rest grazing.
1971 Rand Daily Mail 25 May 3Mr Colombera..returned to the potato lands on the farm after lunch.
1988 H. Vickery in Quagga Vol.20, 24There have been reports of up to 70 dead cranes found in a single land.
1988 H. Dugmore in Personality 18 July 32He was out in the lands one morning when his wife brought him his morning coffee.
1991 F.G. Butler Local Habitation 52There was the silhoutte of Rhebokberg and the tree-lined course of the Great Fish River, the dam, the poplar bush and the lands.
1993 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)‘Do you cut this wood on your farm?’ ‘Yes, I cut it on my farm. I’m clearing some old lands, you know.’
2. A commonly used synonym for ‘country’ or ‘nation’.
Note:
Used in other varieties of English, but usually in poetic or dramatic contexts.
1900 [see naar sense 1].
c1937 Title of publication, United Tobacco Co.Our Land.
1992 H. Ashton on Radio South Africa 11 Nov.The crying need in this land is for primary education.
1993 Weekend Post 25 Sept. 11I have had to learn to respect him as my grandfather without justifying what he and like-minded people did to people in this land.
1994 [see Durban July Durban].
A field; a portion of farm land under crops, or suitable for cultivation. Frequently in the plural.
A commonly used synonym for ‘country’ or ‘nation’.
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lamsiekte, nounn.Land Act, noun phrasen. phr.
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