‖opstal, noun

/ˈɔpstal/
Plurals:
unchanged, occasionally opstalle/ˈɔpˌstalə/, opstallen.
Origin:
Dutch, AfrikaansShow more Dutch (later Afrikaans), literally ‘structure’, ‘construction’, ‘something built up’.
Any farm building and the ground around it, but particularly the farm house and its garden ground; often in the plural and used collectively, a farm’s main buildings; upstall. Also attributive.
1809 Earl of Caledon in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1900) VII. 187A duty of only 2½ per cent is charged upon the Opstal or buildings erected upon a Loan Land.
1811 J.A. Truter in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1901) VIII. 96When he sells the opstal (buildings) to any person who makes the purchase..the proprietor stands in want of special grant to himself.
1811 J.A. Truter in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1901) VIII. 96 [see quitrent sense 2 a].
1818 M.C. Gie in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1901) VIII. 429It appears from grants of the year 1705 that they have sold to one another the premises thereon, called Opstallen.
1827 Reports of Commissioners upon Finances at Cape of G.H. II. 80The transfer of loan places has constituted an exception, the buildings on them called the ‘opstal’ having at all times been allowed to be sold by the occupier.
1844 Ordinance for Regulating Payment of Transfer Duty in Stat. Law of Cape of G.H. (1862) 706In respect of every sale whether private or public of the opstal of any loan-place a duty of two and one half per centum shall be chargeable upon and payable by the purchaser.
1884 Cape Law Jrnl I. 317The homestead, that is buildings and garden ground, of the ‘loan place’ was called the ‘Opstal’, and the sale or bequest of such ‘Opstal’ was impliedly allowed by the Government.
1887 S.W. Silver & Co.’s Handbk to S. Afr. 19All farm-buildings erected, fruit trees or vineyards, etc., planted, were called ‘opstal’, and were saleable like any other kind of property.
[1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 352Opstal, In Cape Dutch this word is used collectively of the buildings on a farm, house, stables, etc.]
1927 C.G. Botha Social Life in Cape Col. 11The farmer was only an occupier of the land which he had no right to sell. The only part he could sell or bequeath was the ‘opstal’ or buildings which he had put up.
1938 C.G. Botha Our S. Afr. 26The lessee had no dominium in the ground and he could sell or bequeath nothing more than the opstal — that is the house, kraals and other improvements.
1941 C.W. De Kiewiet Hist. of S. Afr. 40All he owned was the ‘opstal’ or buildings upon the land.
1967 W.A. De Klerk White Wines 74The present opstal (homestead) has a main gable dated 1814.
1978 Sunday Times 5 Nov. (Mag. Sect.) 5He..discovered the buchu growing freely on the mountain slopes and the apparatus for distilling buchu oil in an old opstal.
1981 J. Kench Cape Dutch Homesteads 15The second half of the Eighteenth Century is the great period of opstal design, the period when its central feature, the ‘holbol’ gable, reached its finest expression.
1981 J. Kench Cape Dutch Homesteads 25The homestead at Bokbaai..exemplifies the unpretentious architecture from which the grander ‘opstalle’ of the great wine-estates emerged.
1983 D. Hughes et al. Complete Bk of S. Afr. Wine 15It was then that they built their splendid homesteads, the stately opstalle which have become a central feature of the winelands.
1986 S. Afr. Panorama May 23‘Overberg opstalle’ (homesteads), complete with peach-pip floor.
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 490Opstal, Homestead, farm building.
Any farm building and the ground around it, but particularly the farm house and its garden ground; often in the plural and used collectively, a farm’s main buildings; upstall. Also attributive.
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opslag, nounn.opstoker, nounn.
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