gammat, noun
/ˈxamat/
- Forms:
- gamaat, gamatShow more Also gamaat, gamat, ghammat, and with initial capital.
- Origin:
- Adaptation of Mohamed.
derogatory, offensive
1.
a. A man of Cape Malay descent; a ‘coloured’ man. b. A given name for a stereotypical Cape Malay folk-figure, often the subject of jokes. Also attributive. In both senses also called Gammatjie. Cf. Meraai.
a1951 H.C. Bosman Willemsdorp (1977) 58From his speech and mannerisms, and also, to some extent, from his name, Josias, you would be..inclined to classify him as a Cape Gamat.
1955 A. Delius Young Trav. in S. Afr. 99Scattered about..were smaller, flat-roofed, two-roomed dwellings..which..belonged to the Kleurlinge, Gamats or ‘Hotnots’, as the coloured farm labourers were variously known.
1970 Post 10 May 15Gammat, a lodger: ‘What’s the weather like outside?’ Landlady: ‘Rather like your bill.’ Gammat: ‘What do you mean.’ Landlady: ‘Unsettled.’
1971 J. McClure Steam Pig (1973) 216How come a brother murders his own sister. Even for a gamaat, that’s pretty low.
1974 Drum 22 Mar. (cartoon)You think you got troubles, Gammat — they got me for doing 51 kmh, for storing 11 litres of petrol, for drunken driving, my wife’s left me, and I got Meraai into trouble.
1974 G. Jenkins Bridge of Magpies (1977) 40A point of light showed...‘It burns all night, every night. No gamat would stay otherwise.’ Gamat is an affectionate term for the fine half-caste Malay fishermen of the Cape.
1980 A. Dangor in M. Mutloatse Forced Landing 161People now live..in homes with scraggy, sandy gardens that the ingenious white man had reclaimed from the sea. Gamat! You have become Neptune’s tenant. Pay your rent or he’ll stick his trident up your arse.
1986 V. Cooke et al. in S. Gray Market Plays 34Who’s this goffel?..Born in Cape Town. He’s a gamat...Does he think he’s American or something. He’s a Hottentot, man.
‖2. In full gammat-taal /-ˌtɑːl/ [Afrikaans taal language]: Capey sense 1 b. Cf. gamtaal.
1974 Informant, GrahamstownThe Cape Coloured hawker on the Grand Parade has an idiomatic language — ‘gammat-taal’ — of his own.
1977 J. Suzman in Darling 16 Mar. 89One of the interesting things about this country is the extraordinary mixes of language...When Pieter Dirk Uys uses gamattaal, he’s legitimately using the language form which expresses the nature of the people he’s writing about.
[1981 V.A. February Mind your Colour 95Kaaps..is not what some Englishman in South Africa refers to as ‘Capey’,..not what some Afrikaans-speaking persons refer to as Gamat-taal.]
1982 P. McMagh in J. Branford Dict. of S. Afr. Eng. (1987) 83The word diener..it’s currently the gamat for policeman.
3. [A play on the Afrikaans pronunciation of GMA (/xi: em "A:/).] A nickname for either of two Garratt steam locomotives, the GMA or its modified version, the GMAM.
1978 Lewis & Jorgensen Great Steam Trek 52In 1958 the GEAs were supplanted as far as Riversdale by GMAs (nicknamed ‘Gammats’).
1978 Lewis & Jorgensen Great Steam Trek 94Four types of articulateds were used on the Cape Eastern system from 1875, and the GMAMs or ‘Gammats’ were the only really successful ones.
A man of Cape Malay descent; a ‘coloured’ man.
A given name for a stereotypical Cape Malay folk-figure, often the subject of jokes. Also attributive. In both senses also called Gammatjie.
Capey1 b.
A nickname for either of two Garratt steam locomotives, the GMA or its modified version, the GMAM.
Copyright © 2020 Dictionary Unit for South African English.
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