kopje

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From (South African) Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), diminutive of kop (head).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kəʊpi/
  • IPA(key): /kɒpi/

Noun

kopje (plural kopjes)

  1. (South Africa) A small hill or mound, especially on the African veld.
    • 1883 June, Ralph Iron [pseudonym; Olive Schreiner], “Shadows from Child-life. The Watch.”, in The Story of an African Farm, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: H. M. Caldwell Company, →OCLC, part I, page 9:
      In one spot only was the solemn monotony of the plain broken. Near the center a small solitary “kopje” rose. Alone it lay there, a heap of round ironstones piled one upon the other, as over some giant’s grave.
    • 1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Prospecting Begins”, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, [], published 1901, →OCLC, page 105:
      We selected a lichenous kopje perhaps fifteen yards away, and landed neatly on its summit one after the other.
    • 1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 8:
      Martha looked over a mile or so of bush to a strip of pink ploughed land; […] and then, ridge after ridge, fold after fold, the bush stretched to a line of blue kopjes.
    • 1978, André Brink, Rumours of Rain, Vintage, published 2000, page 72:
      On the koppie behind the village, the unsightly red-and-white skeleton of an FM tower.

References

  • Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition (1997)

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Noun

kopje (plural kopjes)

  1. (archaic) Alternative form of koppie

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɔp.jə/
  • (file)

Noun

kopje n (plural kopjes)

  1. Diminutive of kop
  2. (of cats) an act of rubbing one's face on someone or something to spread pheromones

Lower Sorbian

Alternative forms

  • koṕe (obsolete)

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *kopьje. Cognate with Upper Sorbian kopjo.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɔpʲɛ/, [ˈkɔpʲə]

Noun

kopje n (diminutive kopjecko)

  1. spear, javelin, lance, pike

Inflection

Further reading

  • Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928), koṕe”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
  • Starosta, Manfred (1999), kopje”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *kopьje.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kòːpjɛ/

Noun

kọ́pje n

  1. javelin

Inflection

Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Further reading

  • kopje”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
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