Vroeë woordelyste en woordeboeke in verband met Afrikaans

Abstract

<b>Early Word-lists and Dictionaries in Connection with Afrikaans</b> The beginning of professional lexicography in South Africa can be taken as far back as 1926, when Prof J.J. Smith officially started the work on <i>Die Afrikaanse Woordeboek</i> (later also known as the <i>Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal</i>). This article considers the state of Afrikaans lexicography at that time and takes a view of the Afrikaans and pre-Afrikaans word-lists and dictionaries published before 1926. Publications between 1844 and 1925 are discussed. Some of the early pioneers in lexicography were the Dutch who had settled in South Africa and whose contribution still had a strong Dutch character. Only as a result of the influence of the so-called Tweede Afrikaanse Taalbeweging after 1905 and the work of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Akademie voor Taal, Letteren en Kunst that was founded in 1909, Afrikaans lexicographic publications were less influenced by this Dutch element. By 1926 the foundation of a lexicographic tradition had been established. Afrikaans explanatory lexicography was, however, still an unknown and unexplored field.