Science Forums 2

[Boerseun]

Same thing in Afrikaans, although in the early 1900's the spelling was simplified to reflect the pronunciation. Back then, our spelling was 99% Dutch, except for neologisms and words borrowed from other languages, mostly from German, Malay, English and French (I do stand to be corrected on the exact percentages, though)

For instance, in Afrikaans, reis means both 'to travel' and 'to rise', with the exact same spelling. But like you said, the origins of these words are lost in time.

In Afrikaans, we have another oddity, though: the male hy 'him' is interchangable with sy 'her', without changing the sex!

We would say 'Hy het sy koffie gedrink', meaning 'he drank his coffee', but literally it translates as 'He drank her coffee' (!)