Comparison of Afrikaans and Dutch rather than "Zuid-Afrika" as in Dutch, South Africa adopted "ZA" as its international vehicle registration code in 1936, which later became the country's ISO country code, with .za becoming the country's internet domain. In the middle of words, Afrikaans merged Dutch and to a single sound and consequently to a single spelling, . Compare Dutch "haven" (port) with Afrikaans "hawe", both pronounced . Afrikaans merged Dutch fricatives and to a single sound , spelt , except when preceded by , in which case (pronounced ) is used where Dutch uses (pronounced , or ; hence "school" is "school" in Dutch
Za (guilds) The name may have also come, more simply, from the idea of merchants within a guild or association sharing a seat or platform in the marketplace. The earliest "za" came into being in the 12th century, consisting not only of trade guilds, but also guilds of performers and entertainers. Even today, performers of "kabuki" and "noh" are in associations called "za" (see Kabuki-za). The "za" trade guilds appeared as a major force in the 14th century, and lasted in their original forms through the end of the 16th, when other guilds and trade organizations arose and subsumed the "za". While