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HAAKLAT. (Afrikaans). See under BINDER.

HAISI. (Venda). Meaning a house. Term used to describe a square plan, pitched roof dwelling.

HALF-HIPPED ROOF. Also called a jerkin head roof; a roof which is hipped from the ridge halfway to the eaves and gabled from there down. (Afrikaans: wolfentgeweldak).

HALF-TIMBER CONSTRUCTION. A structure formed of timber posts, rails and struts. The inter-spaces of this frame are then filled with brick, rubble, clay or other materials and the whole is often plastered over. (Afrikaans: hout-en-steenkonstruksie).

HANDVATSEL. (Afrikaans). See under HANDLE.

HANDLE. Lever or bracket, usually protruding from surface of door, drawer or lid, used to gain a handhold or operate a locking device. (Afrikaans: handvatsel).

HANEBALK. (Afrikaans). Derived from the Dutch. Timber tie beam in the roof truss of a Cape Dutch house. Currently used in Afrikaans to describe a collar beam.

HANGSTYL. (Afrikaans). See under QUEEN POST.

HANGSTYLKAP. (Afrikaans). See under QUEEN POST TRUSS.

HARDBIESHUIS. Plural Hardbieshuise. From the Dutch, literally meaning a house made from hard reeds. A dwelling form built in southern Africa up to the turn of the twentieth century by both white settlers and indigenous residents. It consisted of a series of modified A-frame trusses placed on the ground and thatched over with reeds. See also KAPSTEILHUIS.

HARMIKA. (Indian). The balcony railing of an early Buddhist stupa in India, which encloses the yasti, and signifies the palace of heaven atop the world mountain. Its use is derived from the ancient Vedic practice of enclosing a sacred tree with a fence.

HEMISPHERICAL GRASS DWELLINGS. Domestic structures found predominantly in the eastern littoral regions of southern Africa although examples have also been recorded in the interior of the country. They were built out of a series of sapling arches, bound into a large hemispherical framework which was then covered over with either reed mats, grass mats, or grass thatching, or a combination of these materials. Instances are also known where they were coated, internally, externally or on both sides, with clay. A number of regional styles of construction are known to have been used in the past although currently some hemispherical dwellings may only be found in parts of Zululand, Swaziland and Lesotho. In more recent times there has been a tendency in rural areas to replace hemispherical structures with more substantial dwelling forms.

HERDBOY'S HUTS. Temporary shelters erected by herd-boys or farmhands during their sojourn away from their villages at times of planting, harvest and cattle movement.

HIGHVELD DWELLING. Rectangular plan structure, usually single cell and roofed over with a lean-to roof falling from a raised parapet facade to the rear of the building. Historically this building type originated in Cape Town during the latter half of the eighteenth century where it became associated with Malay or slave dwellings. Its form and constructional technology made it a highly efficient residential form in warm, dry climates such as that of the Karroo where it flourished during the early part of the nineteenth century. It became associated with the Trekboer culture of that era and was transplanted to the highveld by Dutch farmers emigrating there after 1836. During that time it also became associated with the Griqua of the northern Cape. The introduction of corrugated iron in the southern African interior assisted in its spread and after the South African conflict of 1899-1902 it became associated with Afrikaner rural culture. During the 1940s it began to be adopted by black farmers on the highveld where it predominates to the present day. In more recent times however, it has become associated with urban squatter camps such as those found at Thaba 'Nchu in the OFS and Winterveld near Pretoria.

HINGE. The joint on which doors and gates turn. (Afrikaans: skarnier).

HIP. The external angle formed by the meeting of the sloping sides of a roof which have their wall-plates running in different directions. (Afrikaans: wolfhoek).

HIP-KNOB. A pinnacle, finial or other similar ornament, placed on top of a roof hip or on a gable apex. (Afrikaans: ruiter).

HIP RAFTER. A rafter spanning from roof ridge to eaves thus creating the hip ridge. (Afrikaans: hoekbalk).

Hlaka. (sePedi). Tie beam.

HOEKBALK. (Afrikaans). See under HIP RAFTER.

HOEKBOOG. (Afrikaans). See under SQUINCH.

HOEKVLAKVORMIG. (Afrikaans). See under SPANDREL.

HOMESTEAD. General term used to indicate rural settlement of indeterminate size and composition. (Afrikaans: opstal).

HOOD MOULD. Also called a label mould or a dripstone; a projecting moulding on the face of a wall, usually above a door or window. (Afrikaans: kaplys or druplys).

HOOFSTYL. (Afrikaans). See under CROWN POST or KING POST.

HOOFSTYLKAP. (Afrikaans). See under KING POST TRUSS.

HOOK. Iron hook used for fixing thatch to timbers. (Afrikaans: dekgrashaak).

HORTJIETORING. (Afrikaans). See under LOUVRE.

HOUSE. Conventionally used to indicate domicile, but may also find relevance in an anthropological context to describe the social hierarchies and inheritance patterns of indigenous society. (Afrikaans: huis or tuiste).

HOUSEHOLD. Used in a general sense to describe the social group comprising a rural domestic establishment. (Afrikaans: huishouding).

HOUT-EN-STEENKONSTRUKSIE. See under HALF-TIMBER CONSTRUCTION.

HUIS. (Afrikaans). Also referred to as Tuiste. See under HOUSE.

HUISHOUDING. See under HOUSEHOLD.

HUT. Generic term applied to basic rural shelters and farm structures. The Concise Oxford Dictionary has defined it as a "small mean house of rude construction". Thus care should be exercised not to extend its meaning to cover more substantial rural dwellings nor structures constructed in alternative technologies.

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