S. African. Also werft. [Older and dial. Du. werf (werft) = NFris. werw, werrew, LG. warf, in the same sense; orig., a raised plot on which a house is built, and identical with the same forms in the sense of ‘wharf’: see WHARF sb.1] The Cape-Dutch name for a homestead or the space surrounding a S. African farm.
1818. Latrobe, Jrnl. Vis. S. Africa, 191. We therefore took leave, pitched the tent on the werft, and kindled a fire.
1861. C. J. Andersson, Okavango River, xvi. 179. Five minutes’ further walk brought us to a werft consisting of between twenty and thirty huts.
1888. A. Brigg, Sunny Fountains, 231. A Dutchman calls his homestead his werf, that is, his ‘wharf.’
1895. Times, 19 Jan., 5/4. They arrived at the deceased’s werf on November 7, possessed themselves of the guns and arms on the werf, tied Dr. Sinclair, who was with him, hand and foot, and then shot Mr. Christie.
