South Africa’s Apartheid – Etymology

Reading an article in The Economist about the state of affairs in #SouthAfrica, it occurred to me that the word apartheid, meaning of which we all know, could’ve been a combination of two simple words – apart and heid.

“Apart” meaning is well known. “Heid”, I guessed was a form of “herd” like in “they were herded into a bus”. The full word was to mean “to keep the herds apart”.

Looking up the etymology for the word Apartheid, I have guessed almost correct. The word comes from Afrikaans, roots of which are from the Dutch word “Apart” and English word “Hood” (which means a condition or state of being).