heuweltjie, noun

/ˈhiœvəlki/
Forms:
Formerly also heuvel, heuveltje.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African Dutch, DutchShow more Afrikaans (earlier South African Dutch), from Dutch heuveltje hillock.
Geology
An ancient termite nest, manifesting as a fertile mound of earth.
1857 Cape Monthly Mag. 63Can any of your scientific contributors inform me why the soil is richer on these so-called heuvels, and the probable cause of this curious formation of the earth’s surface?
1903 Cape of G.H. Agric. Jrnl XXIII. 347 (Pettman)The incidence of the heuveltje in the cultivated lands, is an accepted phenomenon which offers food for reflection...These heuveltjes never need manuring and their originating cause is not as yet explained.
1905 E.A. Nobbs in Flint & Gilchrist Science in S. Afr. 381A peculiar feature of many portions of the Colony..is a spotted appearance of the land, with a more luxuriant growth of crop or natural herbage corresponding to these richer and often slightly raised patches, each a few yards in diameter. Sometimes they are close together, while again they may be found only every few hundred yards. Invariably the soil is deeper and richer on these ‘heuveltjes’ than elsewhere.
1910 C.F. Juritz Study of Agric. Soils of Cape Col. 85Attention was frequently directed by the local farmers to numerous slight elevations, from one to four feet in height, and twenty or more yards in diameter. The soil of these hillocks — called ‘heuveltjes’ by the farmers — was alleged to be extremely rich.
1991 Moore & Picker in Oecologia Vol.86, 424Heuweltjies (earth mounds) in the Clanwilliam district, Cape Province, South Africa: 4000-year old termite nests.
An ancient termite nest, manifesting as a fertile mound of earth.
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Afrikaans
Dutch
heuning, nounn.hey, interjectionint.
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