Urban myth. Factoid. How often do we not hear or read nowadays, almost always when the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) isrnseen or mentioned, that the name 'white' is a corruption of the Afrikaans name 'wijd'. I was struck that this myth was repeated in a popular work by editors of the highly-regarded Dutch dictionary publishers Van Dale, carelessly copying some report found on the internet without any further research or consideration - even using it in the title of their book (Aalbrecht and Wagenaar 2015). Even Wikipedia at this time (2018) indicates some hesitation that thernstory is correct.