The Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (
Afrikaans for "Society of True Afrikaners") was formed on 14 August 1875 in the town of
Paarl by a group of
Afrikaans speakers from the current
Western Cape region. From 15 January 1876 the society published a journal in Afrikaans called ''
Die Afrikaanse Patriot'' ("The Afrikaans Patriot") as well as a number of books, including grammars, dictionaries, religious material and histories. ''Die Afrikaanse Patriot'' was succeeded in 1905 by today's Paarl newspaper.
Arnoldus Pannevis, a teacher, is generally considered to be the spiritual father of the society. He had observed that most of the South Africans from
Dutch descent could not speak the "pure" form of their original mother tongue anymore. In the course of its (then) 200-year-old history, the language of the immigrants from the
Netherlands had been thoroughly changed by the influence of other
European immigrants, indigenous tribes such as the
Khoikhoi, and especially the
Cape Malays
Cape Malays (, in Arabies script) also known as Cape Muslims or Malays, are a Muslim community or ethnic group in South Africa. They are the descendants of enslaved and free Muslims from different parts of the world who lived at the Cape duri ...
. In 1874 Pannevis expressed these views in the journal ''
de Zuid-Afrikaan'' under the title "''Is die Afferkaans wesenlijk een taal?''"
The eight founding members were Gideon Malherbe, the Dutch immigrant CP Hoogenhout, DF du Toit
AF (nicknamed ''Dokter'', i.e. "Doctor"), a journalist coincidentally named Daniel Francois du Toit
AF (nicknamed ''Oom Lokomotief'', i.e. "Uncle Locomotive"), his brother
Rev SJ du Toit, August Ahrbeck, Petrus Malherbe and SG du Toit.
Everybody except Hoogenhout and Ahrbeck were related. Many of them were of
Huguenot descent.
On 14 August 1975 the ''Afrikaans Language Museum'' was opened in the former house of Gideon Malherbe in Paarl, the building in which the Society was founded. The
Afrikaans Language Monument was also opened in Paarl in 1975, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Society.
References
External links
Afrikaans Museum and Monument
*
1875 establishments in the British Empire
Afrikaans
Afrikaner organizations
Afrikaans words and phrases
History of South Africa
Organizations established in 1875
{{SouthAfrica-org-stub