# Afrikaans: Vir-niks-nie-bang-nie



## jabogitlu

Hi All! 

I have some book titles in Africaans that're proving absolutely impossible to translate.  However, I have managed to find a word (duikboot) that one site says corresponds to the German phrase(?) "vir-niks-nie-bang-nie"  - I'm not sure, this doesn't even look German to me, but I am SO lost!! I'm a Romance language guy!

Can anyone help me?  The title is "Duikbootkaperjolle" in its original Afrikaans if that helps.  Sorry I don't have anymore context, not even a plot - just a title!  It's in a series of the Hardy Boys detective books that were translated in the 1980s.

Thanks!


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## Aurin

Also deutsch ist das nicht.
Mit viel Phantasie:
vir - vielleicht wir= we
niks- vieleicht nichts= nothing
nie=never


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## jabogitlu

Hmm... Well, thanks for your help at any rate   (I see you're in España: De todos modos, gracias por su ayuda!)


I found that 'duikboot' is diveboat/submarine in Dutch so I'm going to pass this info along to my friend and call it a day.


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## Aurin

I´ve another idea:
"Bang" could be "afraid" and the meaning could be: We never are afraid of anything. (If this is correct in English.)


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## dd6kt

bang(e) bedeutet Angst, ich höre es öfter in Norddeutschland (Ostfriesland).

Beispiel : 'Bangemachen gilt nicht'  (Idiom)

Ich vermute, das soll soviel wie
  'wir haben keine Angst'
oder 
  'wie haben niemals Angst' 
bedeuten.

Das ..nie.. ..nie.. ist mir in Ostfriesland als eine Art der doppelten Verneinung schon begegnet. Vom Lesen her macht der Text keinen Sinn, aber wenn man ihn versucht ihn auszusprechen hört er sich friesisch an.

Meinen Opa konnte ich auch nur verstehen, wenn er gesprochen hat. 
Was er geschrieben hat, sah nie nach deutsch aus ;-)


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## Freston

vir-niks-nie-bang-nie is Afrikaans for: Afraid of nothing. That could very well be a description of a 'duikboot', which is as you found out Dutch for submarine. The double denial "nie - nie" is a give away trademark of Afrikaans and is used in a similar fashion as the French "ne - pas" or the HTML [deny]statement[/deny] 


Kaperjolle was a bit more difficult to find the true meaning of. But it means to cut a caper. So duikbootkaperjolle means 'capers of a submarine' or 'submarine capers' or something to the purpose. 

As you can see there is absolutely nothing German about this all. But I might be  able to translate some of the titels from Afrikaans to English.


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## Freston

I dunno if you are still interested, but I found out the term 'vir-niks-nie-bang-nie' turns out to be a hoax. Afrikaans is quite similar to Dutch, but several Dutch comedians have taken delight in stretching the differences between the languages to their own humorous purposes and make up phony words in Afrikaans.

Some of them phony words have caught on and are in use in Dutch today. 'Vir-niks-nie-bang-nie-skippie' is a less well known example of how a fake Afrikaans expression took to life in the Dutch language. 'Amperbroekkie' (eng: 'hardly-shorts', meaning G-string) is another example of this practice.


So that the OP found out 'Vir-niks-nie-bang-nie' as translation of 'Duikboot' is actually a quite funny turn of events.

But as I said, there is no letter German in this. Perhaps the 'Other languages section' is a better place to discuss this matter.


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## Arrius

A few thoughts on the subject from an old "rooinek" who picked up his Afrikaans mainly from Cape Coloured colleagues in Zambia:-
  "Bang" is very common in Afrikaans (and in Hochdeutsch and presumably all or most German dialects as well) e.g. Moenie bang wees nie (Afr.)/ Sei nicht bang(e) (Ger.) = Don't be frightened.  Vir-niks-nie-bang-nie = fearless, and in this nautical context is reminiscent of the name "Dreadnought" which is a common name given to ships of the British Navy and, I think, a class of warship (I leave you to look that up). It sounds like satisfactory Afrikaans to me. The "duik" in duikboot (submarine) is a cognate of English "duck" in the sense of to bend over quickly to avoid a missile or to conceal oneself. There is an African gazelle called a duiker because of the rapid way in which it can disappear. The equivalent German cognate is (unter)tauchen. Kaperjol(le) may have a combination of two etymologies here as often happens in Afrikaans: like English caper it refers to jolly japes like those of a gambolling goat (Lat. caper, hence also capricorn) - at the Spanische Reitschule in Vienna a difficult equestrian leap with both fore- and hindlegs outstretched is called a Kapriole or capriole; simultaneously, especially in this nautical context it may also be connected with the Afrikaans kaperskip = privateer, freebooter, pirate. derived ultimately from Latin capere = to take/seize (capisce?).
    I am sorry to hear that the Dutch are still deriding the Afrikaans language so long after the prejudice against it because of apartheid connotations should have disappeared. As one familiar with many languages, I think it is a fine-sounding  and economical tongue that would have made a far more practical universal lingua franca than English, or even Spanish, if history had gone that way.


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## Freston

Arrius said:
			
		

> I am sorry to hear that the Dutch are still deriding the Afrikaans language so long after the prejudice against it because of apartheid connotations should have disappeared.


Perhaps, but the intent of this practice is not to offend. So I hope no offense is taken by anyone, or I sincerely apologize as that was not the purpose.
Perhaps this practice is better understood if you know that quite many new words have been made and caught on because of an intrinsic humorous value. And only a handful that I know of are attributed to Afrikaans, or Flemish to whom the same applies (sorry buren  )

Anyway, I feel that 'duck' would not fit as a translation for 'duik' as well as 'dive' does. A 'duikboot' I think is literally translated into English as 'diveboat'.

You do however have a very strong point when you say


			
				Arrius said:
			
		

> Kaperjol(le) may have a combination of two etymologies here as often happens in Afrikaans: like English caper it refers to jolly japes like those of a gambolling goat (Lat. caper, hence also capricorn) - at the Spanische Reitschule in Vienna a difficult equestrian leap with both fore- and hindlegs outstretched is called a Kapriole or capriole


The Afrikaans Kaperjolle is translated into Dutch by 'capriool' or 'bokkensprong'. The latter meaning 'jump of a goat', and both have the meaning of 'a caper' in English. You can see the simularities between the words, as they are pronounced only slightly different. So it could very well be that 'kaperjolle' and 'capriool' come from the same base. But 'kaperjole' is Afrikanized. 



			
				Arrius said:
			
		

> kaperskip = privateer, freebooter, pirate. derived ultimately from Latin capere = to take/seize


This is an interesting point. The 'kaper' in 'kaperskip' means in Dutch: 'hijacker', 'privateer' or 'raider'. 'kaperschip' means the latter two.

But I think also in this context the 'kaper' in 'kaperjolle' is unrelated.


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## Arrius

Neither you not the Dutch nation as a whole, my dear Freston, is responsible for the jokes made in dubious taste by a few rednosed comedians. Any more than I am for the hostile WWII vocabulary that regrettably turns up in the British yellow press whenever there is a soccer match between Germany and England. In this era of extreme political correctness the number of publcly acceptable targets is more limited. I agree you are probably right about kaperskip not being connected: I couldn't resist the Volksetymologie provided by the similarity. However, I did not mean that duck instead of dive would be a good translation for duik here, but was merely referring to an English cognate of duik that the American member who first raised this question would be sure to know.
Incidentally, Wikipedia informs us that the original American title (No. 68 of 190!) was "Submarine Caper" later retitled "Deadly Chase". Perhaps the publishers thought their readers might otherwise think that it was an underwater cookery book dealing with condiments!


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## Freston

Arrius said:
			
		

> Incidentally, Wikipedia informs us that the original American title (No. 68 of 190!) was "Submarine Caper" later retitled "Deadly Chase". Perhaps the publishers thought their readers might otherwise think that it was an underwater cookery book dealing with condiments!


You mean to say they thought the Yanks would mistake this book for Suid African recepies on boiled Kapriole?


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## Arrius

Forgive me for being so obscure in my futile attempts at humour: a caper also means in English the pickled bud of a certain shrub of the same name, well known in cookery as a spice. This is "Kapern(strauch)" in German and I should imagine something similar such as "kaper(struik)" in Dutch.


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## JanWillem

I don't see why making up words in another language would be that harmful..:s What does apartheid really have to do with that?



dd6kt said:


> bang(e) bedeutet Angst, ich höre es öfter in Norddeutschland (Ostfriesland).
> Das ..nie.. ..nie.. ist mir in Ostfriesland als eine Art der doppelten Verneinung schon begegnet. Vom Lesen her macht der Text keinen Sinn, aber wenn man ihn versucht ihn auszusprechen hört er sich friesisch an.
> 
> Meinen Opa konnte ich auch nur verstehen, wenn er gesprochen hat.
> Was er geschrieben hat, sah nie nach deutsch aus ;-)



Es ist eigentlich selbst eine dreidoppelte Verneinung, weil "niks" auch negativ ist. ~ "Für nichts nicht bange nicht". 
In Niederländisch gibt's beide "angst hebben" und "bang zijn" (angst haben, bange sein). 'Angst hebben' ist vielleicht ein bischen formal, aber ist in Flandern noch viel gebraucht (glaube ich). 
Oh und ich hätte gern mal mit dein Opa gesprochen, um mal zu sehen wie ähnlich die Grenzdialekten (an beide Seiten) wirklich sind


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## Suehil

Try 'Dreadnought' - which is how you would say 'afraid of nothing' as the  name for a submarine.


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## Noline

Arrius said:


> I am sorry to hear that the Dutch are still deriding the Afrikaans language so long after the prejudice against it because of apartheid connotations should have disappeared.


 
Hi guys, im Dutch, and i never heard such a thing

Vir-niks-nie-bang-nie, means scared of nothing, but isnt really dutch, i know it as "voor-niets-niet-bang-boot" (scared of nothing boat) and it seems to be afrikaans for warship, that might be a dutch joke though 

cheers
NoLine


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## Noline

Freston said:


> This is an interesting point. The 'kaper' in 'kaperskip' means in Dutch: 'hijacker', 'privateer' or 'raider'. 'kaperschip' means the latter two.
> 
> But I think also in this context the 'kaper' in 'kaperjolle' is unrelated.


 
I think jolle stands for jol or yawl in english which is a dutch sailing vessel

so kaperjolle is a pirateship

cheers
NoLine


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## Abu Bishr

Hi Everybody

The expression "Vir-niks-nie-bang-nie" is definitely not "suiwer" or pure Afrikaans if Afrikaans at all. In Afrikaans you would say: "Ek is vir niks bang nie", as "niks" is already a negative of some sort such that it obviates the need for second negative apart from the final "nie". The above expression translates in English as "Not afraid of nothing" which reminds me of how it's sometimes used in the US.

The word "jolle" of "kaperjolle" which is the plural of "kaperjol" often refers to nightclub dancing. This word is very common amongst the "white" population of South Africa called the "Afrikaaners". If you study the context in which it is used yiu'll find that it has something to do with "partying" till late at night. As to the origin of the word "kaperjol" I can't say, as it's not used in the cultural group that I come from, except for "jol" which is pronounced in colloquial or "kombuis" Afrikaans as "jawl" in English to mean "disco / nightclub dancing". Another meaning of the word "kaperjolle" is 'maneuvers' or 'moves' like dance moves, and so on.

Hence, "duikbootkaperjolle" can well refer to nightlife or partying on a submarine, or it could even refer to the underwater maneuvers of the submarine, which seem to make sense if we talking about a chase of some sort.

I hope this helps.


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