Suidwes-Afrika Stamp

Hi all,

I am having a little bit of a challenge finding this stamp in my cataloge - Can anyone guide me on the date and where I should be looking. Thanks.


Aha 1937. :)

Hi.
South-West Africa,year 1937,Michel # 181

South West Africa, 1937 as noted above - Scott #110.

These stamps are normally collected in pairs as they were printed se-tenant with alternate stamps in English and German.

I guess the one shown by Nora must be the English one from the se-tenant pair then, as that is not German.

The language is Afrikaans and it is a variant of Dutch.

German: Südwest Afrika / Briefmarke
Dutch: Zuidwest-Afrika / Postzegel
Afrikaans: Suidwes-Afrika / Posseël.

In this case, the diaresis is the Dutch trema that separates to vocals that would otherwise be a diphthong: pos-se-el and not pos-seel.
In German it would be an umlaut that changes the pronunciation of the vowel. An umlaut over an e does not work.

Here is the full version of the stamp you posted. They were printed in sheets of 60; but the sheets were laid out in two language se-tenant pairs.

Despite the unnecessary sarcasm, NSK is correct, the stamps were issued in English and Afrikaans not German.

I have no idea what caused me to type German while my head was thinking Afrikaans, perhaps my mind was on dinner.

Having grown up in South Africa I speak Afrikaans fluently. Afrikaans is not a variant of Dutch, it has Dutch roots, but is considered a distinct language in itself.
Clive

It used to be a German colony. So, the use of German in that territory would have been common. And stamps were inscribed in German.

A friend of mine spent much of her childhood in Northern Rhodesia. Among the neighbours was an Afrikaans-speaking couple who'd moved up from apartheid South Africa. They were excited about a forthcoming trip to the Netherlands - "We'll be able to speak our language to the Dutch". On their return, they were asked about the experience. "They laughed at us, and told us to speak English".

I think Afrikaans-speakers are better at understanding Dutch, than Dutch at understanding Afrikaans.