schaapwachter, noun

/ˈskɑːpˌvaxtə(r)/
Forms:
schaapwagter, skaapwachterShow more Also schaapwagter, skaapwachter, skaapwagter.
Origin:
Dutch, AfrikaansShow more Dutch (later Afrikaans skaapwagter), schaap sheep + wachter guard.
‖1. A shepherd.
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 236A few slight instructions, from a schaap-wagter (shepherd) whom we met with were considered sufficient to enable us to take the proper direction.
1900 S.T. Plaatje Boer War Diary (1973) 122Surely those Transvaal Boers are abominable. I really do not think they are children of the same Dutchland as the inhabitants of the O.F.S. No wonder their President was a judge while Oom Paul was a ‘schaapwachter’.
1958 A. Jackson Trader on Veld 40After the natives were directed to their particular portions of the farm, the boss and his sons spent most mornings on horseback watching the ‘skaapwachters’ (shepherds), and in the lambing season scouring the veld for stray ewes.
2. ?obsolete. [Various reasons are given for this name: see quotations 1822, 1913, and 1937.] The bird Oenanthe pileata of the Turdidae. Often in dimunitive form schaapwagtertje, schaapwagtertjie [see -ie].
Note:
In G.L. Maclean’s Roberts’ Birds of Sn Afr. (1993), the name ‘capped wheatear’ is used for this species.
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 270The Schaapwagtertje (the Little Shepherd), so called from its familiarity in approaching the Hottentots while tending their sheep, is a bird common in all the open country of this part of Africa.
a1867 C.J. Andersson Notes on Birds of Damara Land (1872) 108The Dutch boors have given it the name of ‘Schaap Wagter’ or Shepherd; it has also the more local name of ‘Nagtgaal’ and ‘Rossignol,’ from a habit it is said to have of singing by night.
1867 E.L. Layard Birds of S. Afr. 103Schaapwachter of Colonists (lit the Shepherd). He is a favourite with the farmer and the shepherd.
1897 H.A. Bryden Nature & Sport 60A rather remarkable wheatear, the imitative wheatear (Saxicola pileata), well known in South Africa by its Dutch name ‘schaap-wachter’ — sheep-watcher...Not content with a fair song of his own, he mimics almost every note he hears, and will imitate, not successfully, birds, dogs, sheep, goats and other creatures. He is a little afraid of man, and had apparently a natural fondness for sheep and other stock, for which reason the Boers gave him his colonial name.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 426Schaapwachterje, Saxicola pileata. This favourite among the birds is so styled because, possessing great powers of mimicry, it not only imitates other birds, but whistles exactly as the shepherd does when driving his sheep.
1923 Haagner & Ivy Sketches of S. Afr. Bird-Life 27The Capped Wheatear (S. pileata) is the Schaap-wachter of the Dutch..recognized by its rufous-brown back and broad black chest-band...It is a tame, confiding bird and is fond of the neighbourhood of buildings and kraals.
1937 M. Alston Wanderings 61The Dutch have several names for the capped wheat-ear. One is ‘Schaapwachter’ (shepherd) because of the birds predilection for cattle and sheep kraals.
A shepherd.
The bird Oenanthe pileata of the Turdidae. Often in dimunitive form schaapwagtertje, schaapwagtertjie [see -ie].
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