noordkaper, noun

/nʊə(r)tˈkɑːpə(r)/
Forms:
noord-caper, noordkaaperShow more Also noord-caper, noordkaaper, noordkapper, and with initial capital.
Origin:
DutchShow more Transferred use of Dutch name for Eubalaena glacialis a whale of the northern oceans, noord north + kaap cape + noun-forming suffix -er.
The Southern Right whale Eubalaena australis of the Balaenidae.
Note:
The general English form is ‘nordcaper’.
[1790 tr. of F. Le Vaillant’s Trav. I. 45The cachalot, a kind of whale which the Dutch call noord kaaper, is always found in great plenty sporting in the bason.]
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 342Noordkaaper,..The name given by the fishermen to a variety of whale; the designation has been taken over from the early Dutch sailors, and applied, without any appreciation of the incongruity, to an animal whose habitat is the southern ocean.
1913 W.W. Thompson Sea Fisheries of Cape Col. 102It was pointed out that the whales were..‘noord-kapers’ (small South Sea black or ‘right’ whale), and that they were not met with permanently either in Table or Saldanha Bays, but came in mostly during the rainy season.
1925 H.J. Mandelbrote tr. of O.F. Mentzel’s Descr. of Cape of G.H. II. 138A species of whale, styled ‘Noord-Capers,’ abound in Cape waters. They can be seen almost daily in the vicinity of Table Bay and along the Southern promontories of the Cape of Good Hope.
1977 K.F.R. Budack in A. Traill Khoisan Ling. Studies 3 24The ‘Noordkapers’ are considered the typical whales. In earlier times they must have been more common. The name was originally not meant for the species occurring in the South Atlantic, but for a close relative found in northern oceans (Eubalaena glacialis). Introduced by white whalers, the term was soon applied to the southern species (Eubalaena australis) also and was later taken over by the ≠Aonin (norkaper).
1985 A. Tredgold Bay between Mountains 81Right whales (called Noordkappers by the fishermen).
1986 J. & I. Rudner tr. of Carl Peter Thunberg 1772–5 22On the 14th, we saw noordkapers spouting, the seals (phoca) sporting, and trumpet-grass..floating in great abundance.
The Southern Right whale Eubalaena australis of the Balaenidae.
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Nooitgedacht, nounn.noors, nounn.
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