16/03/2026
The Dictionary Unit for South African English would like to extend its grateful acknowledgement to Grocott's Mail for the recent article 'Thirty years of documenting South African English' celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the publication of the print edition of 'A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles' in 1996.
🇿🇦 Visit the online Dictionary of South African English at: https://www.dsae.co.za
🔎 Find out more about the Dictionary Unit for South African English at: https://www.ru.ac.za/dsae
30 years of documenting South African English
By Onele Luvalo
This year, the Dictionary Unit for South African English (DSAE) celebrates 30 years since the first publication of A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles.
Published by Oxford University Press, this significant milestone was topped by President Nelson Mandela signing 100 copies of the special edition.
Unlike many traditional dictionaries that focus mainly on general English, this project focuses on words used in South Africa, capturing the rich mixture of languages and expressions that reflect the country’s diverse cultures and communities. By doing this, the dictionary helps people understand how English in South Africa has evolved over the years.
The digitisation process began in 2019 with the publication of the first online desktop edition, followed by a mobile edition released in 2020, and has continued to the present. The release of the revised edition on 31 March 2025 solidifies the dictionary’s relevance in the digital age, both locally and internationally, across education, research, and scholarship.
The DSAE was started by Professor William Branford, Rhodes University’s first professor of English Language and Linguistics, in 1969. The project was created to document the variety of English spoken in South Africa and how it has developed over time.
The aim was to record the meanings and origins of words that are commonly used in the country and to preserve their meanings and histories for future generations.
While today the DSAE is funded by the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), Rhodes University has played an important role in the dictionary project. According to senior editor Bridgitte Le Du the university recognised the need to support the development of the project in its early days and has provided its institutional home ever since.
Executive director Tim van Niekerk explained that tracing the origin of words is a careful research process. The team begins by collecting information and building a database of words that are used in South Africa. They then search for evidence that shows where the words first appeared and how they were used. This process involves a great deal of reading, writing and editing.
Through this work, researchers can trace the history of words and understand how their meanings have changed over time. The DSAE hopes to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the print edition's publication with a formal event towards the end of the year.
Tim van Niekerk, executive director of the Dictionary Unit for South African English at Rhodes University. Photo: Onele Luvalo
