sopien.

1687 Locke in Fox Bourne J. L. (1876) II. 71 A hogshead of cyder, even now and then a bottle of wine or a zopy.

1696 W. Mountague Delights Holland 38 The common Dutch are satisfied with a sopie of Brandy-Wine.

1790 E. Helme tr. F. Le Vaillant Trav. Afr. I. v. 90 Those who enter a house are always presented with a sopi, that is to say, a glass of rack or gin, or rather of French brandy.

1812 A. Plumptre tr. H. Lichtenstein Trav. S. Afr. I. ii. xii. 167 Whatever Mr. Barrow may say of the Soopje as the favourite drink of the colonists, I can very safely affirm, that I never..saw three Africans born, in liquor.

1824 W. J. Burchell Trav. Interior S. Afr. II. x. 287 Muchunka..was..stopped from drinking it all off at once as he had seen the others drink their sopje (sópy) or dram.

1827 G. Thompson Trav. S. Afr. i. iii. 33 I alighted and partook of a cup of coffee, or a dram (soopie) with the hospitable boors.

1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches ii. 143 They produced their provisions for supper,..which they seasoned with a moderate sopie, or dram.

1835 C. L. Stretch Jrnl. 13 May in Voorloper (1976) 743 The glass or cup..was presented to the Chief who previously to giving it to the person intended sipped out some portion and as several soupies were given in this way Macamo naturally became quite overcome with the strength of the Brandy.

1849 E. E. Napier Excursions Southern Afr. I. vii. 115 A ‘Totty’, to this day, will share his last sixpence,..or his last ‘soupje’, with a comrade.

1861 in Life at Cape (1973) 37 We ordered a halt to rest a bit, to take a ‘soopie’, [etc.].

1862 L. Duff-Gordon Let. 2 Mar. in Lett. from Cape (1925) 131 Though he declined wine or Cape smoke ‘soopjes’ (drams) with aversion.

1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vi. 163 There being lots of visitors every day, and a soupii, or a glass of Cape brandy, for every one.

1876 F. Boyle Savage Life 277 After a while, from his lonely cottage by the ford, came to us the boer farmer in quest of supje (Mercian suppy), of raw spirits and a gossip.

1899 Warner Capt. of Locusts 19 Fortifying himself against the temperature by means of a cigar and occasional supjes.

1939 F. B. Young City of Gold i. iii. 95 ‘Come along, Peruvian,’ he shouted. ‘Just in time for a sopie.’

1981 A. Paton Towards Mountain xv. 117 Part of the remuneration of the [‘Cape Coloured’] farm workers is the ‘sopie’, the draught of sour inferior wine that is given them three or four times a day... The sopie has been condemned by generation after generation of social workers, teachers, and ministers of religion.