nek, noun

/nek/
Origin:
South African Dutch, English, French, DutchShow more South African Dutch, probably calqued on English neck isthmus, promontory, mountain pass, but perhaps translation of French col, as used in this sense by the French Huguenots. It seems that nek was never used in standard Dutch in this sense.
1. A narrow ridge or saddle of land, lower than, but joining, two mountains or hills.
1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches 223They had to travel along the narrow ridge (nek) in order to reach the opposite highland.
1853 R.B. Struthers Hunting Jrnl (1991) 27Got the Dr. ashore to a Kraal across the nek of land dividing the lake from the Umpata.
1881 E. London Dispatch & Frontier Advertiser 26 Jan. 3On reaching the nek we found the enemy posted on the mountains, with a few stragglers moving across it to join them.
1899 B. Mitford Weird of Deadly Hollow 85The wheel-track mounted a grassy nek or ‘saddle,’ uniting this giant pillar to the main range.
1906 H. Rider Haggard Benita 12Leaving the waggon on the hither side of the steep nek, over which it would have been difficult to drag it.
1920 F.C. Cornell Glamour of Prospecting 150We were faced by a low connecting granite nek, barring our progress, and abruptly ending the ravine.
1925 F.C. Slater Shining River 235Nek, A depression between two hills.
1946 L.G. Green So Few Are Free 65The sea once covered large areas of the Cape Peninsula, including..the narrow nek of land at Kommetje.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 82Halt on the nek and gaze at another reminder of this bold family — the castellated Du Toit’s Kloof Peak.
1987 L. Beake Strollers 96The sun glittered on the sea far below as they came over the Nek.
2. poort.
1882 Lady F.C. Dixie In Land of Misfortune 144On nearing a pass or nek..extra care was taken to guard against surprise.
1900 R. Kipling in J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches (1989) 163I shall put you and four or five more on the nek (the pass), where the road comes from their camp into these koppies.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 37Nek/Poort,..opening between mountains or hills.
1972 S. Afr. Panorama Mar. 31The Wen-Kommando breasted a low nek, or pass, between an imposing mountain..and a smaller hill that the Zulus called Zonkgonka.
3. combination An element in place names, e.g. Brooke’s Nek, Constantia Nek, La(i)ng’s Nek.
1881 E. London Dispatch & Frontier Advertiser 12 Jan. 3They retired to a ridge and donga below Tsitsa’s nek.
1914 C. Pettman Notes on S. Afr. Place Names 18Commando Nek recalls the means that were often employed in earlier days to punish the common enemy.
1914 C. Pettman Notes on S. Afr. Place Names 30Only a few, and those among the most conspicuous of our veld birds, have found recognition in our place names: e.g., Duivenhoek River,..Mahemspruit; the ostrich — Vogelstruispoort, Vogelstruisnek, [etc.].
1989 P.E. Raper Dict. of Sn Afr. Place Names 292Lang’s Nek,..Low mountain pass in the Drakensberg, some 8 km south of Volksrust.
A narrow ridge or saddle of land, lower than, but joining, two mountains or hills.
An element in place names, e.g. Brooke’s Nek, Constantia Nek, La(i)ng’s Nek.
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French
negotie, nounn.nekstrop, nounn.
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