bakra

Garo

Noun

bakra

  1. wilderness

Hungarian

Etymology

bak + -ra

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈbɒkrɒ]
  • Hyphenation: bak‧ra

Noun

bakra

  1. sublative singular of bak

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

From Efik mbakara[1] or Ibibio mbakara. Compare Belizean Creole bakra, Jamaican Creole backra, Nicaraguan Creole bakra, Guyanese Creole English bakra, English bakkra, English buckra, and Gullah buckra.

Noun

bakra

  1. white person
    • 1757, minutes of the interrogation of Avontuur, quoted in: 2000, Margot C. van den Berg, "Mi no sal tron tongo". Early Sranan in court records 1667 - 1767, unpublished MA thesis, page 51:
      evie mi massra ben sendie mi go na Tampatie dan mie sa ben Soria dem Backara
      If my master had sent me to go to Tempatie, then I would have shown the Whites
    • 1833, Marten Douwes Teenstra, quoting Present, Bijzonderheden betrekkelijk den brand te Paramaribo, in den nacht van den 3den op den 4den september 1832 [Particulars regarding the Paramaribo fire, in the night of the 3rd to the 4th of September 1832], page 51:
      o! alla bakkra moesoe dédé toe
      Oh, all whites have to die [sometime], too.
    • 1858 May 16, W.E.H. Winkels, “Humoristische Snippertjes. (Uit de Portefeuille van den ouden Heer Furet.) XXXVI. DE WAARHEID op reis binnen de Kolonie Suriname. DE BLANKOFFICIER. [Humorous Snippets. (From the portfolio of the old Mr. Furet.) XXXVI. THE TRUTH travelling within the Colony of Surinam. THE PLANTATION OVERSEER]”, in Surinaamsch weekblad, Paramaribo: A.L.G. de Randamie, page 3:
      Poti! fa mi habi sari na ini mi hatti, foe so wan moi pikien bakra.!
      Oh! How I have pity in my heart for such a handsome young white [man]!
  2. Dutch person
    • 1975, Mighty Botai (lyrics and music), “Sranang Kong Fri”, in Onafhankelijkheid (Srefidensi) Suriname:
      Atleba ten no sa de moro ini Sranan / Den bakra, den ben hori wi na baka / Den de bow den kondre kon na fesi / Meki wi e pina
      The period of toiling will be no more in Suriname / The Dutch, they held us back / They built up their country successfully / Made us suffer
  3. high-ranking official or civil servant

Synonyms

  • (Dutch person): ptata

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Aukan: bakaa
  • Saramaccan: bakaa
  • Dutch: bakra

Adjective

bakra

  1. relating to a white person
    • 1840 July 17, Algemeen Handelsblad (classified advertisement), Amsterdam, page 3:
      Massera Ningre! condere draay, poespoessie jan sra, bakra oeman aksie man.
      Black gentlemen! The country changes, a cat eats lettuce, a white woman requests a man. (The grammatical number of the nouns is ambiguous)
  2. Dutch

References

  1. Norval Smith (2015), “Ingredient X: The shared African lexical element in the English-lexifier Atlantic Creoles, and the theory of rapid creolization”, in P. Muysken, N. Smith, editors, Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, →ISBN, page 70
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