veld-kornet, noun

/ˌfeltkɔ(r)ˈnet/
Origin:
South African Dutch, DutchShow more South African Dutch, from Dutch veld field (of battle) + kornet a military rank.
historical
1. field cornet sense 1. Also used as a title. See also veldwagtmeester.
1879 R.J. Atcherley Trip to Boërland 130His property and description were given to the nearest veldkornet, and he was interred the following afternoon.
1902 D. Van Warmelo On Commando 114Veld-Kornet Klaasen ordered his men to off-saddle and give the horses a rest.
1935 H.C. Bosman Mafeking Rd (1969) 48Our veld-kornet told us that the burghers from our part had been ordered to join the big commando that was lying at Mafeking. We had to go and shoot a man there called Baden-Powell.
1951 H. Davies Great S. Afr. Christians 156Although he had been wrongfully imprisoned by the Transvaal Government, he willingly came to its aid, as a peace-maker between the veldkornet Joubert and Makhatan.
1962 A.P. Cartwright Gold Miners 58The man who was sent to report on the validity of these grazing rights was Johannes Petrus Meyer, the veld-kornet of the Klip River district. This means that he was a farmer in that district who acted as the Government’s representative in his particular area under instruction from the landdrost.
1988 D. Hughes et al. Complete Bk of S. Afr. Wine 132As early as 1716..there were vines on the farm, 60 000 of them, according to the records of the Veldkornet who acted as tax-collector that year.
2. field cornet sense 2.
1986 Sunday Star 8 June 6‘Yes,’ says ex-veldkornet Wilhelm K—, ‘in 1939 there was fire, brimstone and talk of Volk and Vaderland. There was also much bitterness and hatred’.
field cornet sense 1. Also used as a title.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18791988

Browse Related Words

By Category

Occupations
Colonial

By Origin

Dutch

By Usage

historical
veld cornetship, noun phrasen. phr.veldkornetcy, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English