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The word kaffir is a term used in South Africa to refer to a black person. Now widely considered an offensive ethnic slur, it was formerly considered by whites to be a neutral term for South African blacks. The word is derived from the Arabic term kafir (meaning 'disbeliever'), which originally had the meaning 'one without religion'. Portuguese explorers adopted the term to refer to black non-Muslim peoples when they became involved in the Arab slave trade along the Swahili Coast. Later, other European traders also adopted its use.〔http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/JUN_KHA/KAFFIRS_Arabic_Kafir_an_unbelie.html〕 Variations of the word were used in English, Dutch, and, later, in Afrikaans, from the 16th 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 individuals 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".〔W.A. Joubert, 1981; ''The Law of South Africa'', VI, p251-254〕 ==Etymology== (詳細はArabic: ) that is usually translated into English as "non-believer", i.e. a non-Muslim. The word was originally applied 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. The word kāfir is the active participle of the Semitic root K-F-R "to cover" or "non-believer". As a pre-Islamic term, it described farmers burying seeds in the ground, covering them with soil while planting. Thus, the word kāfir implies the meaning "a person who hides or covers". In Islamic parlance, a kāfir is a person who rejects Islamic faith, i.e. "hides or covers (the truth )". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kaffir (racial term)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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