verligte, noun and & adjective

/fə(r)ˈləxtə/
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, ‘enlightened’ (the attributive and noun form of verlig, see verlig; cf. verlig). Coined by W. de Klerk.
A. noun a. historical. A member of the National Party who supported the reform of discriminatory racial laws. b. transferred sense One who is regarded as enlightened in political, social, religious, etc., matters; a reformer or progressive. Cf. oorbeligte. Cf. verkrampte noun.
1967 [see verkrampte n.].
1969 Manchester Guardian Weekly (U.K.) 24 July 14If the verkramptes of Louis Stoffberg and Dr Herzog win the day against Mr Vorster’s verligtes and their good neighbour policy towards black Africa, it will be a useful gain for Peking.
1969 S. Uys in J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches (1989) 396If one looks at the Nationalist Party’s parliamentary caucus,..one sees that it is composed of verkramptes.., semi-verkramptes, semi-verligtes and verligtes. These are polarities, rather than two clear-cut groups.
1970 News/Check 29 May 9People who later on were to become known as verligtes sided with Silbersteins, the verkramptes summed up the book as sinful.
1977 Rand Daily Mail 5 Nov. 1Natie F— is a disillusioned verligte...He believed the only way to get urgently needed change was to join the Nationalists and try to work for it from within their ranks.
1979 W. Ebersohn Lonely Place 25You know of his father’s political stance, don’t you? He’s a verligte. He has the reputation of being a balanced man.
[1988 A. Foster-Carter in D.S.G. Goodman Communism & Reform in E. Asia 75Attitudes to South Korea constitute one touchstone of a divide between verkramptes and verligtes, diehards and reformers in Pyongyang.]
1990 Frontline Jan. 29The verligtes are the most underrated of South Africans. Nobody admits to taking them seriously. The verkramptes think they’re liberals in disguise; the liberals think they’re verkramptes in disguise; and to the blacks, all whites look the same anyway.
1991 K. Van der Merwe in Weekly Mail 24 May 7You must never forget that De Klerk was elected to the presidency because the conservatives were stronger than the verligtes and they voted him in.
B. adjective verlig adjective
1968 Economist (U.K.) 17 Aug. 32The real object was to strengthen Mr Vorster in the ideological dispute that has arisen within his party between the verligte (‘enlightened’) wing and the verkramptes (that is, literally, the cramped ones).
1970 Cape Times 19 MayMr Vorster intends pursuing a strong outward and verligte line.
1970 Evening Post 8 JuneIn the victory of the verligte (or ‘enlightened’) strain in Afrikaner thinking, particularly in foreign policy, some observers have claimed to detect that South Africa is shedding the laager mentality.
1970 News/Check 24 July 10Botha scored his victory by way of an ultra-verligte approach, thus proving that verligtheid can be sold at the polls.
1970 News/Check 4 Sept. 5Piet Cillie, super-verligte editor of Die Burger.
1971 Sunday Times 4 Apr. 3We in the Progressive Party must be prepared to discuss the future of South Africa with verligte South Africans, no matter what party they support today.
1972 Time 1 May 22The Afrikaner-dominated National Party..lost eight seats in the 1970 election and faces continuing tension between its moderate verligte (enlightened) and archconservative verkrampte (narrow-minded) wings.
1977 S. Afr. Panorama May 27Although a notoriously conservative constituency, Mr Botha fought — and won — the seat on a ‘verligte’ ticket.
1980 N. Ferreira Story of Afrikaner 115I realised that there was a ruthless power struggle beneath the surface between verligte and verkrampte forces.
1982 M. Mzamane Children of Soweto 26The University’s Rector, an Afrikaner of liberal inclinations and verligte views, explained..that he’d personally stake his whole career in defence of the student’s freedom of thought and expression.
1990 Weekly Mail 21 Dec. (Suppl.) 19Outspoken verligte MP Albert Nothnagel, the man who made the mistake of saying ‘let’s talk to the ANC’..was punished by exile to the South African embassy in Holland.
1993 K. Owen in Sunday Times 20 June 22It fell to the embattled editors of SAAN to precipitate the crisis that brought PW Botha, then in a reform-minded, verligte mode, to power.
A member of the National Party who supported the reform of discriminatory racial laws.
One who is regarded as enlightened in political, social, religious, etc., matters; a reformer or progressive.
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verlig, adjectiveadj.verligtheid, nounn.
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