middelmannetjie

English

WOTD – 16 December 2016

A horse-drawn wagon in deep ruts on a muddy road in Illinois, USA, c. 1903

Etymology

Borrowed from Afrikaans middelmannetjie (“little man in the middle”) (analysable as middel (“middle”) + man (“man”) +‎ -etjie (“diminutive suffix”)), from Dutch middel (“middle”) + mannetje (“a short man”) (from man (“man”) + -etje, a variant of -tje (diminutive suffix)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪd(ə)lˌmanəki/, /ˈmɪd(ə)lˌmanətʃi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪd(ə)lˌmænəki/, /ˈmɪd(ə)lˌmænət͡ʃi/
• (General South African) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪd(ə)lˌmʌnəki/
• Hyphenation: mid‧del‧man‧ne‧tjie

Noun

middelmannetjie (plural middelmannetjies)

1. (South Africa) A ridge between ruts made by wheels in a dirt or gravel road.
   • 1996, Clive Walker, Signs of the Wild, 5th edition, Cape Town: Struik Publishers, →ISBN, page 141:

     Spoor [of a hippopotamus] […] Well-worn paths, some 20 cm wide, lead up from rivers, the four-toed tracks running parallel, and clearly indicating a ‘middelmannetjie’.

   • 2005, Shirley Bell, The Happy Warrior: The Story of T. C. Robertson, Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: T. C. Robertson Trust, →ISBN, page 23:

     An old Ford was going down a road that had a formidable middelmannetjie (hump down the middle). This middelmannetjie was so high that the front axle of the car caught on it, the car somersaulted, and Trichardt and his passenger, a man called Van Niekerk, were flung out and broke their necks.

   • 2005, Graham [K.] Jooste, Rugby Stories from the Platteland, Johannesburg: 30° South Publishers, →ISBN, page 36:

     The farm road with the high middelmannetjie finally came out at a big farmhouse with a lot of chickens running around.

   • 2009, Jonathan Lawley, Beyond the Malachite Hills: A Life of Colonial Service and Business in the New Africa, London, New York, N.Y.: I.B. Tauris, →ISBN:

     [T]he two tracks made by four-wheel-drive vehicles with high clearances left a never-ending high point in the middle – the middelmannetjie as known to local whites. I had to keep either the right or the left wheels on it.

   • 2013, Deon Meyer, Dirt Busters: A Guide to Adventure Motorbiking, Cape Town: Tafelberg, →ISBN:

     [Y]ou are riding at 80 km/h on a typical Karoo dirt road, with clear two lane tyre tracks, and a middelmannetjie – that collection of sand, pebbles and dust dividing the 'lanes'. You are looking at the herd of springbok to your right, and you stray onto the middelmannetjie. The back wheel starts hunting and swerving.

Afrikaans

Etymology

middel (“middle”) + man (“man”) +‎ -etjie (“diminutive suffix”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪd(ə)lˌmʌnəki/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mid‧del‧man‧ne‧tjie

Noun

middelmannetjie (plural middelmannetjies)

1. Middelmannetjie