Kopite
noun · first attested 20th century
The word for a Liverpool fan comes from a hill in KwaZulu-Natal where Liverpool men died in 1900.
A supporter of Liverpool Football Club, especially one who stands on the Kop at Anfield.
-28.6500°S 29.5164°E · Q7577689
Record
- Relationship
- Indirect, via a person or title
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 20th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Spion Kop
- In English
Kopite
The Battle of Spion Kop in January 1900 was a costly British defeat in the Second Boer War, and many of the dead came from Lancashire and Liverpool regiments. When Anfield's new banked terrace opened in 1906 it was called the Spion Kop, a name the local journalist Ernest Edwards is usually credited with. Kopite is the demonym for the people who stand on it, and the pattern spread to banked ends at grounds across Britain.