slamaaier, noun

/slaˈmaɪə(r)/
Forms:
Also slamaier, slameier.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, blend of Islam and Maleier Malay.
Especially among Afrikaans-speakers:
1. obsolete. A member of the Cape Muslim community; cf. Slams noun.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 448Slamaier, (This word seems to have originated in a confusion of the two words Islam and Maleier.) A term applied to a Malay, a follower of Mahomet.
1934 A.J. Barnouw Lang. & Race Problems 28A colourful element is added to this half-breed population of the city by the Mohammedan Malayans, Slameier or Slamsen, as they are called by the Dutch.
1934 A.J. Barnouw Lang. & Race Problems 29The Slameiers’ Carnival which they celebrate on January 2, has long remained the most picturesque survival of eighteenth century Capetown life.
2. In the Cape Muslim community: one who deals in the supernatural. Cf. doekum, Slams noun. See also goëlery, Malay magic (Malay noun sense 3).
1943 I. Frack S. Afr. Doctor 126The magic workers or Slamaaiers..had reduced quackery to the very finest of arts...I arrived at the farm in the early evening, in time to see the whole family gathered in a corner of the kraal, listening to a weird collection of incantations by the slamaaier.
1975 Sunday Tribune 27 July 3A spiritualist, a bishop, a Catholic priest, a Malay slamaaier, a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses and a Scientologist are keeping a close watch on the situation.
1975 Het Suid-Western 30 JulyThe Port Elizabeth slamaaier whom the ‘ghost family’ consulted and who gave them several ‘jumats’, tiny parcels wrapped in silver paper and brown cotton, has now asked them to send him a black fowl to be slaughtered as a sacrifice.
A member of the Cape Muslim community;
one who deals in the supernatural.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19131975

Browse Related Words

By Category

Islam

By Origin

Afrikaans

By Usage

obsolete or obsolescent
slagter, nounn.Slambie, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English.