Kraal

Kraal

Kraal (also spelled craal or kraul) is an Afrikaans and Dutch word (also used in South African English) for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within an African settlement or village surrounded by a palisade, mud wall, or other fencing, roughly circular in form.

In the Dutch language a kraal is a term derived from the Portuguese curral,[1] cognate with the Spanish-language corral, which entered into English separately.

The term primarily refers to the type of dispersed homestead characteristic of the Nguni-speaking peoples of southern Africa. Although from the period of colonisation, European South Africans and historians commonly referred to the entire settlement as a kraal, ethnographers have long recognised that its proper referent is the animal pen area within a homestead. Modern ethnographers call the several human dwellings within a homestead (Xhosa: umzi, Zulu: umuzi, Swati: umuti) houses (singular indlu; plural Xhosa and Zulu izindlu, Swati tindlu).

Folds for animals and enclosures made specially for defensive purposes are also called kraals.

In Eastern and Central Africa, the equivalent word for a livestock enclosure is boma, but this has taken on wider meanings.

Further reading

Other

In some Southern African regions, the term Kraal is used in scouting to refer to the team of Scout Leaders of a group.

Notes

  1. ^ Random House Unabridged Dictionary: Kraal: "Origin: 1725–35; < Afrikaans < Portuguese curral pen"

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • kraal — kraal …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • kraal — [ kral ] n. m. • 1735; mot néerl.; cf. corral 1 ♦ Village chez les Hottentots. 2 ♦ Enclos pour le bétail en Afrique du Sud. Des kraals. ● kraal nom masculin (mot afrikaans, du portugais curral, cage) En Afrique du Sud, village indigène ou enclos… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Kraal — Kraal: ↑ Kral. * * * Kraal,   der Kral. * * * Kraal: ↑Kral …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Kraal — (kr[aum]l or kr[add]l; 277), n. [D., a village, inclosure, park, prob. fr. Pg. curral a cattle pen; the same word as Sp. corral. See {Corral}.] 1. A collection of huts within a stockade; a village; sometimes, a single hut. [South Africa] [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • kraal — KRAÁL s. n. aşezare temporară a crescătorilor de vite în Africa de Sud, în care colibele sunt dispuse în cerc, în jurul oborului animalelor. (< fr. kraal) Trimis de raduborza, 15.09.2007. Sursa: MDN …   Dicționar Român

  • kraal — (n.) village, pen, enclosure, 1731, South African, from colonial Du. kraal, from Port. curral (see CORRAL (Cf. corral)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • kraal — S. African ► NOUN 1) a traditional African village of huts. 2) an enclosure for sheep and cattle. ► VERB ▪ drive (animals) into a kraal. ORIGIN Dutch, from Portuguese curral corral …   English terms dictionary

  • kraal — [kräl, krôl] n. [Afrik, village, pen, enclosure < Port curral, pen for cattle; akin to Sp corral,CORRAL] 1. a village of South African natives, usually surrounded by a stockade 2. a fenced enclosure for cattle or sheep in South Africa; pen vt …   English World dictionary

  • Kraal — Kraal, eine Gruppe von Hütten bei den Hottentotten …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Kraal — Kraal, s. Kral …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

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