veldskoen, velskoen, noun and & adjective

/ˈfeltskʊn//felskʊn//ˈfeltskun/
Forms:
α. feldtchoen, feldtschoonShow more feldtchoen, feldtschoon, feltchoon, feltscoon, feltshoon, vehltschoon, veldchoon, veldschoen, veldschoon, veldshoen, veldskoen, veldtschoen, veldtschoon, veldtscoen, veldtshun, veltschoon;
β. felchoon, fellchoonShow more felchoon, fellchoon, velschoen, velschoon, velskoen.
Plurals:
veldskoens, veldskoene/ˈfeltskʊnə/, or unchanged, also (formerly) veldskoenen.
Origin:
Afrikaans, Dutch, South African DutchShow more Afrikaans, veldskoen, earlier Dutch veldschoen shoe for outdoor wear, ‘country shoe’ (veld open country + schoen shoe); or velskoen, earlier South African Dutch velschoen hide shoe, from Dutch vel hide, skin + schoen shoe. One of these early forms was probably a corruption of the other.
Note:
It is not known whether veldschoen or velschoen is the earlier form; however, veldschoen is found in Dutch from as early as 1676 (designating similar shoes from other parts of the world), and some early descriptions state that the Khoikhoi wore these shoes when walking on rough veld. Veldskoen thus seems a more probable first form than the ostensibly more logical velschoen, which has not been found in Dutch elsewhere.
A. noun
1. a. In historical contexts. A shoe or ankle boot similar to a moccasin, made of rough (often untanned) hide stitched with leather thongs, and having a soft sole, the whole shoe often consisting of a single piece of hide laced or sewn above. b. In recent times, a shoe with uppers made of such hide but with a thicker sole, usually of leather or rubber; vellie. Also attributive. In both senses also called field shoe, veld shoe.
Note:
A style of footwear made by the Khoikhoi at the Cape and later adopted by settlers.
α.
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 214The Hottentots..took off the hide, which they cut in small pieces, for the purpose of making velschoen (hide shoes). [Source Note: Or, as some pronounce it, Veld-schoen (Country-shoes).]
a1827 D. Carmichael in W.J. Hooker Botanical Misc. (1831) II. 277The ox-hide..is made into..feldtschoon for himself and his family.
1829 C. Rose Four Yrs in Sn Afr. 243I have been obliged to eat the veldtschoon (untanned leather shoes) from my feet.
1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches 178A sort of sandals..are in common use, called veld-schoenen (country shoes), the fashion of which was, I believe, originally borrowed from the Hottentots. They are made of raw bullock’s hide, with an upperleather of dressed sheep or goat-skin.
1849 N.J. Merriman Cape Jrnls (1957) 73He made me a pair of veldt schoons, shoes worn by the Hottentots and Dutch Boers.
1850 J.D. Lewins Diary. 17 JuneFengou has not got the veldschoen but he has brought the gate.
1856 T. Shone Diary. 20 MayThis day I made a feltchoon boot for Henry.
1860 A.W. Drayson Sporting Scenes 174The ‘veld schoens’ (field shoes), similar to those worn by the Dutch boers, are much better than boots, as they are comfortable, soft, easy, and very silent.
1863 Lady Duff-Gordon in F. Galton Vacation Tourists (1864) III. 163The shoemaker..is making a pair of ‘Veldschoen’ for you...They are what the rough boers and Hottentots wear, buff-hide barbarously tanned and shaped, and as soft as woollen socks.
1878 H.A. Roche On Trek in Tvl 139His unaccustomed feet are stuffed into stiff, shiny-leather boots, instead of his dear old, easy-going ‘Veldtschoons’ of home manufacture.
1883 M.A. Carey-Hobson Farm in Karoo 183The Boers generally make their own shoes for using at home. Veldt schoens or fell schoens they call them, and very comfortable things they are.
1886 G.A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert 202The giraffe skin is the most valuable, the thick parts, off the back and neck, being cut into strips for soles of boots, called veldt schoons, which the natives make themselves.
1890 A. Martin Home Life 97There is nothing so serviceable as the country-made veldschoon.
1906 H. Rider Haggard Benita 226His soft veld-schoons, or hide shoes, had made no noise.
1920 F.C. Cornell Glamour of Prospecting 147Our veldtschoens..had to be cobbled every day with fragments of rimpi.
1931 H.C. Bosman Mafeking Rd (1969) 146He was dressed..in shirt and trousers and veldskoens...But..we saw that he had got socks on. Therefore we knew that he was an Englishman.
1939 F.B. Young City of Gold 94The rocky road had torn his veldskoene to shreds.
1944 J. Mockford Here Are S. Africans 60Their unstockinged feet protected by handsewn veldschoens, the equivalent of Canadian moccasins.
1958 S. Cloete Mask 181In leather clothes, their bare feet in veldschoen — home-made leather shoes.
1971 Farmer’s Weekly 12 May 123 (advt)Game Leather Shoes (Veldskoene). Strong Kuduleather uppers, Feathercrepe soles.
1992 Sunday Times 6 Sept. 5Veldskoen factory owner..Hennie du Plessis.
β.
1822 [see α quot.].
1837 ‘N. Polson’ Subaltern’s Sick Leave 131The skin is used to make bags for grain, and the thick skin at the back of the hock for soles to the native sandals or velschoon.
1844 J. Backhouse Narr. of Visit 490We got some shoes made of undressed leather, and sewed with slender thongs of the same: these are called Vel Schoenen, Skin-shoes.
1851 T. Shone Diary. 22 Apr.Jack was making himself a pair of Felchoons or rawhyde shoes.
1864 T. Baines Explor. in S.-W. Afr. 76Both had short skin petticoats..and velschoens [printed belschoens] more clumsily made than I have seen at Windhock.
1870 H.H. Dugmore Reminisc. of Albany Settler 17Velschoen usurped the place of Wellingtons in many quarters.
1883 O.E.A. Schreiner Story of Afr. Farm 97The heavy shuffling of the well-known ‘vel-schoens’ could be clearly heard.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 531Veld schoen, This appears to be a corruption, now..in general use, of velschoen, a skin shoe. Originally these shoes were cut out of raw, undried hide and fitted to the foot in a single piece; now the soles and uppers are cut separately and sewn together in a rough and ready fashion; but clumsy as they look, nothing could be more easy and comfortable for the feet when walking about the farm. The idea was borrowed from the Hottentots who seem to have adopted this method of protecting their feet before the advent of Europeans.
1936 E. Rosenthal Old-Time Survivals 25Velskoene are shaped exactly as they were in the 18th century, and for that matter as they were in the 17th. A piece of carefully-softened hide is cut into a shape to suit the wearer, and is then sewn.
1949 L.G. Green In Land of Afternoon 138He always carried..two pairs of the velskoen type for the veld.
1958 R.E. Lighton Out of Strong 62Look at socks. When I work I am better with just my velskoens.
1965 J. Bennett Hawk Alone 13He was wearing scuffed down velskoens without socks.
1975 S. Roberts Outside Life’s Feast 54Her brothers..wore old jeans, clumsy jerseys and velskoens.
1984 Cape Times 2 Aug.Kramer told Zola that the red velskoens would come in handy for ‘very long distances.’
1986 Flying Springbok Sept. 86The only authentic velskoen factory.
1990 E. Prov. Herald 27 Feb. 9People..tap their velskoens in time.
1993 Sunday Times 10 Oct. (Business Times) 10They work with the same moulds used six generations ago, making the original velskoen for R68 a pair.
2. figurative
a. vastrap sense 2.
α.
1934 C.P. Swart Supplement to Pettman. 154Sheepskin Dance,..A farm-dance is so designated in South Africa...These social affairs are also known as Veldskoens, Vastraps (Tread-fasts) and Kop-en-Pootjies (Head and Trotters).
β.
1949 L.G. Green In Land of Afternoon 167A country dance is often referred to as a vastrap or a velskoen.
b. rare. In the expression to make veldskoens, see quotation.
β.
1958 A. Jackson Trader on Veld 29An increase in the family warranted..a long trip...Because the father, waiting for the happy event, would while away his time by making velschoens, this..excursion was called ‘making velschoens’.
c. Used allusively, as a symbol of conservative attitudes or values, or of toughness or aggression.
α.
1976 Sunday Times 15 Aug.The fact that the HNP lost the election to the Nats..confirms that the Marico has outgrown its veldskoens.
1990 A. Wood in Top Forty July 30Edi Niederlander’s tough ‘jeans ’n veldskoen’ image.
β.
1989 D. Mullany in Scope 21 Apr. 4That kamikaze, freeway-death-wish, velskoen-to-the-floor, crash-and-burn cretin known as the South African Motorist.
B. adjective Of or pertaining to the stereotypical wearers of veldskoens, especially Afrikaner people and farmers; conservative or reactionary.
α.
1881 E. London Dispatch 12 Jan. 3We trust that the Executive will..make short work of this attempt to re-establish the unutterable nuisance of a veldschoen republic.
1911 Farmer’s Weekly 15 Mar. 16The period of evolution and progress is taking the place of the ‘veldschoen-remschoen’ policy.
β.
1937 C.R. Prance Tante Rebella’s Saga 101A real ‘hostile Baw’, tall and bearded, a ‘velskoen’ bitter-ender to the life.
1974 Sunday Times 6 Oct. 8The day of the ‘velskoen’ mentality is past.
A shoe or ankle boot similar to a moccasin, made of rough (often untanned) hide stitched with leather thongs, and having a soft sole, the whole shoe often consisting of a single piece of hide laced or sewn above.
In recent times, a shoe with uppers made of such hide but with a thicker sole, usually of leather or rubber; vellie. Also attributive. In both senses also called field shoe, veld shoe.
In the expression to make veldskoens,see quotation.
Used allusively, as a symbol of conservative attitudes or values, or of toughness or aggression.
Of or pertaining to the stereotypical wearers of veldskoens, especially Afrikaner people and farmers; conservative or reactionary.
Derivatives:
Hence veldskoened  adjective, wearing veldskoens.
1929 J.G. Van Alphen Jan Venter 251Klaas, the fiddler, led the music, tapping the floor with a roomy veldskoened foot.
1990 Sunday Times 4 Mar.Comfortably clad in a pair of old blue trousers and a short-sleeved, open-necked shirt, one velskoened foot resting on his knee.
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veldskoened

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