Kaffir (racial term)

The word kaffir (or alternatively kaffer) is a term used in Southern Africa to refer to a black person. Now considered an offensive ethnic slur, it was formerly considered by whites to be a neutral term for black South Africans.

The word is derived from the Arabic term kafir (meaning "disbeliever"), which originally had the meaning "one without religion". Arab Traders adopted the term to refer to non-Muslim peoples. Variations of the word were used in English, Dutch, and, later, in Afrikaans, from the 17th century to the early 20th century as a general term for several different peoples of Southern Africa. In Portuguese, in French and in Spanish, the equivalent cafre was used. The term acquired a distinctly derogatory meaning in the context of South African history, especially during the Apartheid era. In Afrikaans, the term is more commonly spelled kaffer.

In South Africa today, the term is regarded as highly racially offensive, in the same way as nigger in the United States and other English-speaking countries. It is seldom used as an isolated insult, but rather is used systematically by openly racist people when talking about black people, and as such was very common in the apartheid era. Use of the word has been actionable in South African courts since at least 1976 under the offense of crimen injuria: "the unlawful, intentional and serious violation of the dignity of another".

"Kaffir" is derived from the Arabic word (Arabic: كافر kāfir) that is usually translated into English as "non-believer", i.e. a non-Muslim. The word was originally applied to non-Muslims in general, and therefore to non Muslim black peoples encountered along the Swahili coast by Arab traders. Portuguese national poet Camões used the plural form of the term (cafres) in the fifth canto of his 1572 poem Os Lusíadas. This interpretation was probably passed on to other European settlers and explorers.

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