‖mijnheer, noun

/meɪnˈhɪə(r)/
Forms:
meinheer, mijnheerShow more Also meinheer, mijnheer, minheer, m’nheer, myneer, mynheer, and with initial capital.
Plurals:
mijnheeren/meɪnˈhɪərən//meɪnˈhiərən/.
Origin:
DutchShow more Dutch, mijn my + heer lord, master.
obs. except in historical contexts
Especially among speakers of South African Dutch: ‘Mister’; ‘sir’; ‘gentleman’. See also Heer noun sense 1. Cf. mevrou.
I. As a title.
1. Prefixed to a first name or a surname: Mister (Mr); meneer sense 1; Mnr.
1696 J. Ovington Voy. to Suratt 292The Governour of the Cape, Min Heer Simon Vanderstel, labours much in Improvements and Accommodations for the Inhabitants and Sea-men.
1837 ‘N. Polson’ Subaltern’s Sick Leave 101Mynheer Buffel and his ladies alike think he has kept silence too long.
1852 M.B. Hudson S. Afr. Frontier Life 11To proceed with my tale, I must introduce here, Mynheer V—.
1871 J. Mackenzie Ten Yrs N. of Orange River 49It is resolved that Mynheer Suikerlippen..should now be installed as Landdrost.
1888 Cape Punch 21 Mar. 165Assisted by the heavy weight Mynheer Squarefacio.
1899 B. Mitford Weird of Deadly Hollow 93‘That is certain, Mynheer Rendelsams,’ agreed the young Dutchman.
1913 J.J. Doke Secret City 60’Tis Mijnheer Van Blerk, Missie, and his sister.
1926 V.L. Cameron Reverse Shield 4Mynheer Abel Kok, the local predikant, his wife and his daughter Elsie.
1944 J. Mockford Here Are S. Africans 90The very treasure trove of the treasure-house itself was on Mynheer de Beer’s farm.
1955 V.M. Fitzroy Dark Bright Land 33Mijnheer Cloete, the country gentleman whose daughter Col. Graham is to wed.
1990 R. Gool Cape Town Coolie 1His lips began..to shape the word, ‘Mister’, but he decided instead on ‘Mijnheer van der Merwe’.
2. With a designation of office or rank: equivalent to ‘My Lord’ or ‘His Honour’; meneer sense 3.
1797 Lady A. Barnard in Lord Lindsay Lives of Lindsays (1849) III. 163By her was Mynheer the ‘Secretarius’.
1919 M. Greenlees tr. of O.F. Mentzel’s Life at Cape in Mid-18th C. 6The first is the Vice-Governor, commonly called ‘Mijnheer de Tweede.’
1923 B. Ronan Forty S. Afr. Yrs 171The influence of Mynheer Sekretaris became more firmly rooted with every additional year of office.
3. Used in the third person and without a definite article, as a respectful term of reference: ‘Sir’, ‘master’; sometimes used (in the singular) to represent Dutch or Afrikaans men collectively.
1798 Lady A. Barnard in Lord Lindsay Lives of Lindsays (1849) III. 463Mr Barnard is so fond of these dried peaches that he became the purchaser of Mynheer’s whole stock.
1804 R. Percival Acct of Cape of G.H. 51Those Dutch gentlemen..offer their habitations as taverns...Besides being very handsomely paid for board and lodging, Mynheer expects over and above a present..for the Vrouw his wife.
1839 W.C. Harris Wild Sports 35We found that Mynheer, although ignorant of all languages except Dutch, claimed a Scottish extraction.
1841 B. Shaw Memorials 297A slave ran after the wagon, calling aloud to the driver, and enquiring if it were not the wagon of old Mynheer.
1849 N.J. Merriman Cape Jrnls (1957) 66Mynheer and his vrou retired to rest.
1870 R. Ridgill in A.M.L. Robinson Sel. Articles from Cape Monthly Mag. (1978) 29All enjoyed the joke amazingly; the Hottentots especially chuckled at the thought of having caught mynheer napping.
1878 T.J. Lucas Camp Life & Sport 136I found quarters for myself inside with Mynheer.
1900 B. Mitford Aletta 2On one side of him sat ‘Mynheer’, as the local predikant, or minister, is commonly known among his flock.
1924 S.G. Millin God’s Step-Children 12He habitually called the missionary ‘Mijnheer’.
1924 D. Fairbridge Lady Anne Barnard 20The serious Dutch ladies had developed a passion for dancing, which it is not recorded that Mynheer shared.
1937 F.B. Young They Seek a Country 430‘Ask m’nheer what he will make use of, Lisbet’ Jacoba said.
1955 V. De Kock Fun They Had 48The vrouws, in a minuet, solemnly dance...As a whale, in shoal water, flaps hard to get out, Mynheer, in cotillion, thus flounders about.
II. As a term of address.
4. A polite or formal term of address: ‘Sir’; meneer sense 2. Cf. baas sense 6.
1798 Lady A. Barnard in Lord Lindsay Lives of Lindsays (1849) III. 463‘You will bring these to me,’ he said ‘when you come to the Cape, Mynheer.’
1829 C. Rose Four Yrs in Sn Afr. 252The good Vrouw rose from her easy cushioned chair, and welcomed us with ‘Sit, Mynheer’.
1835 A. Steedman Wanderings I. 115The usual salutation of ‘Dag Mynheer,’ accompanied by a hearty shake of the hand.
1841 B. Shaw Memorials 111Mynheer, before we received the gospel, we were like an egg, before the chicken is hatched; we were surrounded with darkness, and could see nothing.
1888 Cape Punch 29 Feb. 117‘Not now, mynheer,’ he replied, ‘my children are waiting for me over yonder.’
1899 G.H. Russell Under Sjambok 227‘No, Mijn Heer, no,’ was the reply, ‘I am at fault; I shall not do it.’
1914 L.H. Brinkman Breath of Karroo 89When Boer calls Boer ‘Mr.’ or ‘Mijnheer’ it is a clear sign that the two are strangers to each other.
1915 D. Fairbridge Torch Bearer 126My wife, mynheeren, is a very refined and sensitive female.
1920 R. Juta Tavern 122Dear Mihnheer, it is no good telling me that.
5. A respectful term of address in the third person (avoiding the pronoun ‘you’), a convention used when addressing superiors, older people, and strangers; meneer sense 4.
1816 J. Mackrill Diary. 125Almost the first Question put to a stranger is how old is Myn heer.
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 216Old Hans...exclaimed very fervently when we gained the banks; ‘Thank God! Mynheer is safe.’
1822 Missionary Notices 326What Mynheer preached about on Friday evening exactly agreed with his state before he knew God.
1835 J.W.D. Moodie Ten Yrs in S. Afr. II. 212If it had not been for mynheer’s shot and that good dog, I should have been trampled to pieces by this time.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 77No hour would be inconvenient at which to receive the honour of a visit from mynheer.
1955 V.M. Fitzroy Dark Bright Land 120What dress stuffs has mijnheer got that are new?
III. As a common noun.
6. A gentleman; an Afrikaans-speaking (or, formerly, Dutch-speaking) man; meneer sense 5.
1841 B. Shaw Memorials 279For many years after this occurrence, he would frequently allude to the circumstances, and gratefully exclaim, ‘Eisey, eisey, de old Mynheer and the lilies’.
1853 J. Tindall Jrnl (1959) 177They with many others had travelled more than 100 miles to meet the Groot Mynheer and to enjoy the meetings during the visit.
a1862 J. Ayliff Jrnl of ‘Harry Hastings’ (1963) 21All that the Mynheer has to do is to walk out into the corn fields and vineyards.
1868 W.R. Thomson Poems, Essays & Sketches 154Ou Baas asked if the jonge mynheer had forgotten that his birthday was the day after Christmas.
1944 J. Mockford Here Are S. Africans 45When they went walking, the mynheers and their good ladies were protected from the rays of the sun by large silk umbrellas.
‘Mister’; ‘sir’; ‘gentleman’.
Mister (Mr); meneer sense 1; Mnr.
equivalent to ‘My Lord’ or ‘His Honour’; meneer sense 3.
‘Sir’, ‘master’; sometimes used (in the singular) to represent Dutch or Afrikaans men collectively.
A polite or formal term of address: ‘Sir’; meneer sense 2.
A respectful term of address in the third person (avoiding the pronoun ‘you’), a convention used when addressing superiors, older people, and strangers; meneer sense 4.
A gentleman; an Afrikaans-speaking (or, formerly, Dutch-speaking) man; meneer sense 5.
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migratory labour, noun phrasen. phr.mijnpacht, nounn.
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