sopie, noun

/ˈsʊəpi/
Forms:
soepie, soepjeShow more Also (especially formerly) soepie, soepje, soopee, soopie, soopje, sopi, sopje, soupé, soupee, soupi, soupie, soupje, soupke, soupkie, supe, supje, suppe, suppee, suppie, suppy, zoepie, zoopje, zoupie.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch zoopje a little glass, from zuipen to tipple or drink.
A drink, especially of spirits; a dram; a sip or small quantity of alcoholic drink. Also attributive. Cf. dop noun sense 3 a.
Note:
Quotation 1980 refers to the tot system (see tot noun2 sense 2).
[1696 W. Mountagu Holland 38The common Dutch are satisfied with a sopie of Brandy-Wine.]
1790 tr. of F. Le Vaillant’s Trav. I. 92Those who enter a house are always presented with a sopi, that is to say, a glass of rack or gin, or rather of French brandy.
1798 Lady A. Barnard Lett. to Henry Dundas (1973) 181The Boers from the Country..generally come to pay their respects at the castle at seven ’o clock in the morning and always have their Sopi of Gin with me while I am at breakfast.
1804 R. Percival Acct of Cape of G.H. 254Sit in the porch for an hour or two with a pipe in their mouths, and a slave by their side holding a glass and a small decanter of gin from which the master every now and then takes his soupkie or glass.
1827 G. Thompson Trav. 270He pressed me to take a soopie with him, to which I willingly agreed, as the night was very chilly, but asked for water to mix with the brandy.
1832 Graham’s Town Jrnl 18 Oct. 167I did not see deceased drink any brandy on that day, she does take her soopie, but never so much as to cause her to fall on the ground, or make a noise.
1840 C.A. Kinloch in Echo 26 Oct. 4An English trader, from Graham’s Town..informed them that we were three poor Indian Gentlemen travelling for amusement, and the whole affair was most satisfactorily explained by the aid of the Snuff-box and a soopee of the real Cognac.
1847 J. Barrow Autobiog. Memoir 183Our very devout boors prepared themselves for the enterprise by singing three or four hymns.., and drinking each a sopie, or glass of Cape brandy.
1852 H. Ward Jasper Lyle 3Major Frankfort..solaced himself and his friend moderately with a sopie (dram) from the flask stuck in his leather waist-belt.
1863 T. Shone Diary. 30 Apr.I went to J. Knights, got my Dinner, and a suppe of gin.
1868 W.R. Thomson Poems, Essays & Sketches 167You will have to drink one or two [cups] for every hour you stay, varied now and then, mayhap, with a soepie from your host.
1882 C. Du Val With Show through Sn Afr. I. 272The ice having thus been broken, it required only the application of the flask of brandy to create a complete thaw, and a proffered ‘soupje’ was at once accepted.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 240If you want a zoopje there is Van der Hum on the table yonder and a bottle of old dop.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 461The quantity of spirit which goes to make a soopje is variable, one man’s soopje would be another man’s overthrow.
1958 A. Jackson Trader on Veld 44Although the average farmer was fond of his ‘sopie’ (spot), alchoholic excesses were unknown.
1968 F.C. Metrowich Frontier Flames 99After being sufficiently primed with innumerable sopies Gaika would also fling off his blanket and join vigorously in the fun.
1976 A. Delius Border 225Soon we were all, ladies as well as the gentlemen, prevailed upon to try a glass — and those who didn’t try a second ‘soepie’ were declared guilty of insulting this distant relative of Oom Roer.
1979 Heard & Faull Our Best Trad. Recipes 18In mid-18th century Cape Town it was customary for the gentry to take a sopie (small glass of gin or brandy) before breakfast.
1980 A. Paton Towards Mountain 117Part of the remuneration of the farm workers is the ‘sopie,’ the draught of sour inferior wine that is given to them three or four times a day...The sopie has been condemned by generation after generation of social workers, teachers, and ministers of religion.
A drink, especially of spirits; a dram; a sip or small quantity of alcoholic drink. Also attributive.
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Sonqua, plural nounpl. n.soppies, nounn.
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