Wolweboon

[lady_p_gold]

When I was little we used to have a small dictionary which had the word 'Wolweboon' in it ... and the definition was 'a poisonous fruit used to destroy hyenas' which we all found very amusing.  Often we would ask 'what is a Wolweboon?' and then call out in unison, this strange definition.  Now I have my Chambers dictionary and I find there is no reference to this word and I have even looked on the net and cannot find it ....  has anyone else ever heard of it or has this word disappeared forever and hyenas are now safe from destruction!

[Rabelais]

I guess it was either a prank or a copyright trap

[jno]

just possibly a foreign word - if it refers to hyenas, perhaps it's Afrikaans? Even so, you'd expect it to show up on Google somewhere if it existed; so I should think Rabelais is right.

[Marsh]

Wolwe appears to be an Afrikaans word meaning wolf.

Looking up wolf, I found Wolfwort which has  two meanings in English. One is  wolf's-bane (originally spelled woluesbane) which is aconite. Second is Periploca, the juice of which was used to poison wolves.  In the 17th century it was also called Leopard's-bane and is described as venomous.

Any Afrikaans-speaking ABers out there?

[lady_p_gold]

Thanks for your efforts ....  I think there is someone at work who speaks it so I might ask them !

[Barks]

if you type in wolveboom into google it throws up 2 results one showing a plant/tree called Hyaenanche globosa with an Afrikaans names of wolwegifboom, Boesmansgif,gifboom, wolweboom, and the English name Hyena Poison

Hope this helps

[Barks]

Sorry, that should be Wolweboom in google

[lady_p_gold]

Thank you ...... just returned thinking about this question only to find I had already asked it but I don' t think I ever saw your reply ! If you are still out there then thanks Bark!