ouma, noun

/ˈəʊma/
Forms:
ou-ma, ou’maShow more Also ou-ma, ou’ma, ou ma.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, ou old (from Dutch oud) + ma mother. Cf. ou adjective sense 1 a.
‘Grandmother’, ‘granny’, denoting a parent’s mother, or, informally, any other elderly woman. Cf. oupa.
1. A respectful form of address or reference; oumatjie. In the speech of children, formerly also oud mamma.
1841 B. Shaw Memorials 112She appeared to be at least seventy years of age; and in the afternoon of the day she was surrounded by a group of children, who had undertaken the arduous task, of teaching ‘oud mamma’, the new song of thanks-giving.
1926 P. Smith Beadle (1929) 21His grandmother..could have made it to-day for only one person...‘Ou-ma! Ou-ma!’ he cried, ‘Is it then for Magdalena?’
1937 S. Cloete Turning Wheels 423‘I am sorry, Ouma,’ he said, ‘to find you like this.’
1944 C.R. Prance Under Blue Roof 136Early marriage was desirable,..to confer on eager parents the dignity of Ou-pa and Ou-ma.
1961 T. Macdonald Tvl Story 109He was very humorous. I heard him refer to Queen Victoria as Ouma...He was asked about the franchise for the Uitlanders. He said that the time factor had to be considered ‘because there is the danger that we shall find our cart in Ouma’s wagon-house.’
1973 Cape Times 6 June 9Farmer’s wives gather the makings for ouma’s gargantuan recipe for 100 metres of boerewors.
1979 M. Matshoba Call Me Not a Man 5You want to say I’m lying ouma? It says here you are in arrears to the amount of one hundred rand with your rent, maan!
1981 Oude Libertas Vol.9 No.4, 11Sosaties in their different sauces. Not perhaps like ouma used to make them, but they were pronounced most delicious.
1984 Sunday Times 29 Jan. 10Debbie is holding a syringe. Come now, ouma. She’s going to be all right. The old woman calms down.
1993 M. Gevisser in Weekly Mail 8 Apr. 9I visited a reconstructed home one step behind the Brand family from Pretoria...‘Look at that bath! It’s just like Ouma’s!’
2. A common noun.
1905 P. Gibbon Vrouw Grobelaar 177‘Yes, it is money,’ he said. ‘The ouma sent it, if you should need it.’
1955 L.G. Green Karoo 30One beloved ouma after another, sitting in her chair by the fire, has passed on these stories of the trek long ago from some pleasant corner of the old Cape.
1969 I. Vaughan Last of Sunlit Yrs 118A small boy at one of the houses says only his Ouma and Oupa (grandather and grandmother) are at home, and yells to them to come out.
1974 D. Moore in The 1820 Vol.47 No.8, 17The ladies approached, one by one, to pay their respects. I supported many an ouma as she struggled to straighten out after making her curtsy and wondered how the Princess would bear up under the strain on the following day.
1977 Sunday Times 27 Feb. (Mag. Sect.) 7Oumas and oupas stood on the sidelines with sissies and tannies watching with mouths watering.
1977 P.C. Venter Soweto 153A stranger to the tsotsi’s dangerous world could still save his throat if he has some knowledge of basic words and phrases:...Ouma — wise old woman.
1985 Style Feb. 103Is the whole shihi-pihi of ethnic triumph, is the bubbe and chicken soup, the ouma and the boerebeskuite, purely apocryphal? Nowadays grandmothers have a distressing habit of putting on lip gloss and taking a lover.
1989 J. Hobbs Thoughts in Makeshift Mortuary 281The warm oily smell reminded Jake of the Sophiatown kitchen where his ouma had cooked on a paraffin stove.
3.
a. A title, with a name.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 45A coloured person, mevrouw; — ‘Ou’ma Jannetje’ she calls herself.
1958 R.E. Lighton Out of Strong 15‘Ouma Cronje,’ Ansie piped up, ‘why don’t you make it go any more? You could make jellies and ice-cream in it.’
1976 M. Tholo in C. Hermer Diary of Maria Tholo (1980) 56There is Ouma Swartbooi who has a cracked arm because she was beaten up by a policeman on her way from school.
1980 E. Joubert Long Journey of Poppie Nongena 11Great-grandma Kappie only had one girl child, our grandma Hannie. We called her ouma Hannie.
1981 Pace Sept. 62You have been bedevilled by evil forces? Then you need to see Ouma Masekalaka immediately.
b. Special Combinations
Ouma Smuts historical, an affectionate name for Mrs Isie Smuts, the wife of Jan Christian Smuts, second Prime Minister of South Africa. See also oubaas sense 4.
1943 L. Sowden Union of S. Afr. 147‘Ouma’ Smuts is the wife of General Smuts.
1946 T. Macdonald (title)Ouma Smuts.
[1951 I.K. Smuts Informant, Irene 27 Nov.Please call me Ouma, all of you, as I much prefer it to Mrs. & after all you are all my Girls.]
1976 Weekend Argus 9 Oct. 12General Smuts had in Ouma Smuts a remarkable and intellectually brilliant wife whom he once described as ‘the steam in my kettle’.
‘Grandmother’, ‘granny’, denoting a parent’s mother, or, informally, any other elderly woman.
A respectful form of address or reference; oumatjie. In the speech of children, formerly also oud mamma.
A common noun.
A title, with a name.
an affectionate name for Mrs Isie Smuts, the wife of Jan Christian Smuts, second Prime Minister of South Africa.
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Ouma Smuts

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oulap, adjectiveadj. & nounn.oumagrootjie, nounn.
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