kaparrang, noun

/kaˈparəŋ//kaˈparaŋ/
Forms:
caparran, kamparangShow more Also caparran, kamparang, kaparang, kaparing, kaparran, kaparring, kapparan.
Origin:
South African DutchShow more South African Dutch, adaptation of Javanese gambarran sandal.
A wooden sandal held on the foot by a knob or knot passing between the big and second toes, traditionally worn by Cape Malay people.
1861 ‘A Lady’ Life at Cape (1963) 12A Malay beauty..clatters upon ‘caparrans’ (a species of wooden buskin), and it is marvellous how firmly they can keep their footing upon these comical pattens.
1867 M. Kollisch Musselman Population Cape of G.H. 23Both sexes in some instances carefully ignoring the use of shoes, rather preferring clogs, called Kaparrans.
1883 ‘A Cape Colonist’ Cape Malays 7Clogs called Kaparangs (a small piece of wood with two slips joined underneath, and a wooden knob on the upper side, it is easily put on, and has a very slight fastening, as the knob is simply placed between the first two toes.
1913 D. Fairbridge Piet of Italy 24He kicked off his wooden kaparangs and waded across.
1936 L.G. Green Secret Afr. 130Soon the cobbled streets resound to the clatter of the wooden sandals called kamparangs.
1944 D. Fairbridge in I.D. Du Plessis Cape Malays 52When Lady Duff-Gordon saw them the men wore the toudang — a wide, pointed straw hat —..and on their feet kaparangs or clogs, as the old-fashioned Malays still wear them.
1944 I.D. Du Plessis Cape Malays 51Kaparrings, wooden sandals with a knot to push between the big and second toes, are still in use.
1953 Du Plessis & Lückhoff Malay Quarter 61By the end of the nineteenth century Oriental dress had been discarded; but certain characteristic features have been preserved. Kaparrings, (probably from the Javanese gamparan: wooden sandals with a knot to push between the big and second toes) are still in use.
1960 G. Lister Reminisc. 10There seemed to be many more Malays in Cape Town then, and they wore their own distinctive dress —..wooden pattens called kapparans, a most uncomfortable footwear, with a flat sole for the foot and a sort of door knob to fit between the big toe and its neighbour.
1968 K. McMagh Dinner of Herbs 45The Kamparang had come from the East and was no more than a wooden platform sole with a heel-and-toe lift which was held to the foot by a thick screw, also of wood, that was gripped between the big and second toes and that made the wearer the noisiest of all pedestrians.
1971 L.G. Green Taste of S.-Easter 140Both sexes wore the wooden sandals called kaparrings; but the women put on white shoes at weddings.
1972 A.A. Telford Yesterday’s Dress 139Both men and women were to be seen wearing ‘kaparrings’, or wooden sandals held to the foot by means of a knob between the toes.
A wooden sandal held on the foot by a knob or knot passing between the big and second toes, traditionally worn by Cape Malay people.
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