penkop, noun
/ˈpenkɔp/
- Plurals:
- penkoppe/ˈpenkɔpə/.
- Origin:
- AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, ‘youngster’, pen pen + kop head, perhaps referring to the very short-cropped hair often worn by young Afrikaans boys.
1. obsolete. In the Voortrekker youth movement: a young member, the equivalent of a Cub member of the Scout Association. Also attributive. See also Voortrekker noun sense 2 a.
1934 Friend 23 Feb. (Swart)Mr. J. was elected commandant, while Mr. P. and Mr. H. and Mr. L. and Miss B. were appointed field-cornets and assistant field-cornet of the ‘Penkop’ and ‘Drawwertjie’ sections.
1934 C.P. Swart Supplement to Pettman. 135Penkop,..In the Voortrekker movement it is equivalent to the Boy Scout ‘cub’.
2. In historical contexts. A boy soldier fighting in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902. Also attributive.
1946 V. Pohl Adventures of Boer Family 30All the Penkoppe (boys of from fifteen to twenty years of age) seemed to have gathered here...Attack after attack was repulsed by the merciless accuracy of those Penkoppe sharp-shooters.
1987 W. Steenkamp Blockhouse 5To the immortal memory of the ‘penkoppe’, the boy soldiers of the Boer forces, who fought like men long before they were old enough to shave.
3. A young, inexperienced boy; also derogatory.
1971 Argus 4 May 22I was a penkop in the Transvaal in the early 1930’s when I helped Africans collect enough insects to make a meal.
1986 B. Nasson in Burman & Reynolds Growing Up 109There is a genuine stigma attached to coming from a farm school, believe me...Would you like to be called penkop (pencil-head) or plaasjapie (country-yokel) in the classroom?
a young member, the equivalent of a Cub member of the Scout Association. Also attributive.
A boy soldier fighting in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902. Also attributive.
A young, inexperienced boy; also derogatory.
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