veld

Etymology

in the Free State, South Africa.]] Borrowed from Afrikaans veld, or from its etymon Dutch veld (“field; open country”) (formerly spelled veldt), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *felþą (“field, plain”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”). Doublet of field.

noun

1. (chiefly South Africa) The open grassland or pastureland of South Africa and neighbouring countries.
   In the Bokke-velds, as they are called, theſe animals [springbok] are found in great numbers, and ſometimes at Roode-Zand.] [1785, Andrew Sparrman, “Journey from Boshies-mans-river to Quamme-dacka”, in A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, towards the Antarctic Polar Circle, and Round the World:[…], volume II, London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson,[…], →OCLC, page 84
   Advance tovvards the Cond Bokke Veld, or cold country of Antelopes: mountains covered with ſnovv. 1789 August, “Art. I. A Narrative of Four Journies into the Country of the Hottentots, and Caffraria, in the Years 1777, 1778, and 1779. Illustrated with a Map, and 17 Copper Plates. By Lieutenant William Paterson. […] Johnson. 1789. [book review]”, in Thomas Christie], editor, The Analytical Review, or History of Literature, Domestic and Foreign.[…], volume IV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson,[…], →OCLC, page 387
   People who have not been brought into contact with snakes may deny that they possess the power of fascinating a human being, but in the wild veldt strong, able-bodied men have been subjected to their spell, and can tell a different tale. 1879, Charles H. Eden, “A Despot in Council”, in Ula, in Veldt and Laager: A Tale of the Zulus (Asher’s Continental Library; 6), copyright edition, Hamburg: Karl Grädener, →OCLC, page 47
   The pastoral lands or "velds," which extend chiefly around the outer slopes and in the east, are distinguished according to the nature of the grass or sedge which they produce as "sweet" or "sour." 1879, K. J., “CAPE COLONY”, in The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, 9th edition, volume V, Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, →OCLC, page 42, column 1
   Around, as far as the eye can see, there stretches the bare and dreary-looking plain. The Veld, as this plain is called, has a reddish soil, dry, barren, and dusty, with here and there at considerable intervals a straggling bush or a clump of thorn-shrubs. 1885, attributed to Jules Verne, “One for the Frenchman”, in [anonymous], transl., The Vanished Diamond: A Tale of South Africa, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington,[…], →OCLC, page 4
   I have a piece of veld on Doornfontein. It is a reserved veld. A small river runs here. It is the best grazing on my farm, being very sweet. I reserve it for my cattle. 6 February 1894, Henry Thomas Greef (plaintiff), J. D. Sheil (reporter), “Greef v. Van der Westhuysen”, in Reports of All Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope, During the Months of January, February and March, 1894.[…], volume IV, part I, Cape Town: […] “Cape Times” office,[…], →OCLC, page 28, column 2
   Viewed from a practical point of view there seems no reason to think that these animals will fail to withstand the conditions of the Natal veld. 3 January 1902, H[erbert] Watkins-Pitchford, “The Queensland Redwater Immune Cattle”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume IV, number 22, Maritzburg: The Times Printing and Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 678, column 2
   [W]e found vast numbers of Boer women and children would be left unprotected on the veldt. 4 March 1902, Joseph Chamberlain, “South African War.—Concentration Camps.”, in The Parliamentary Debates (Authorised Edition), Fourth Series, Third Session of the Twenty-seventh Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland […] (House of Commons), volume CIV, London: Wyman and Sons, […] [for] His Majesty’s Stationery Office, →OCLC, column 435
   And Thane nodded and staggered blindly upward, only to sag again in a heap upon the veldt. 1912, F[rancis] Bancroft, chapter III, in The Veldt Dwellers, 3rd edition, London: Hutchinson & Co.[…], →OCLC, book IV, page 296
   Pale yellow and greyish brown, the bare veld of late summer lay flat and listless under the drab sky. 1979, André Brink, chapter 1, in A Dry White Season, 1st U.S. edition, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, published 1980, part 2, page 79
   From an early age, I spent most of my free time in the veld playing and fighting with the other boys of the village. 1994, Nelson Mandela, chapter 2, in Long Walk to Freedom, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 11
   South of the Zambesi, the frontier-line separates the high veldt and the low veldt regions, the line itself sometimes running along the crest and sometimes through the middle of the broken escarpment where the high granite tablelands break down towards the sea. 1995, Malyn [D. D.] Newitt, “The Interior South of the Zambesi in the Sixteenth Century”, in A History of Mozambique, Bloomington, Indianapolis, Ind.: Indiana University Press, page 31
   For [Rachel] Holmes, [Sarah] Baartman’s journey as an object of European curiosity and African exploitation began on the veld of South Africa’s Eastern Cape. 14 January 2007, Caroline Elkins, “A life exposed”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-09-20
   In the flatness of the veldts, one would want to communicate with someone else in order to provide theme and variation to the unbounded and unfettered thoughts stretching outward, inspired by the immense sameness of this place. 2018, Tendai Rinos Mwanaka, “Ruins”, in Keys in the River: New and Collected Stories, Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe: Mwanaka Media and Publishing, page 60