User:Rvanden

Please post replies to published queries from Rvanden here. --Rvanden 03:44, 20 April 2009 (UTC)


 * vraw

In the English book "Master of the Game" by Sidney Sheldon (set partly in South Africa), he uses the word "vraw" in italics which I can find nowhere else. Is this a misspelling of the Dutch or Afrikaans word :vrouw, meaning 'wife' or 'woman'? The context of the passage in the book leads me to believe that it is indeed a misspelling of the Dutch/Afrikaans word. Am I right? --Rvanden 04:04, 20 April 2009 (UTC)
 * It seems like an English phonetization of "vrouw". &mdash;AugPi 04:19, 20 April 2009 (UTC)
 * The word "vraw", spelled like that, doesn't exist in Dutch: I looked it up in the online Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal and the Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek. Result: "geen resultaat".  It doesn't exist.  &mdash;AugPi 04:34, 20 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Words in Dutch never end in -aw, so the Dutch would not misspell "vrouw" like that. &mdash;AugPi 04:40, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

In Afrikaans it's "vrou". I think that's the language, not Dutch. If it does mean wife or woman, then I think the English phoneticization should be something like "frow". I think Sheldon was just sloppy. --222.0.221.6 08:55, 20 April 2009 (UTC)