No one seems to know.And here I thought it was a cape coloured original.
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Oh I see you pasted the “open source” version from Urban Dictionary.
Oxford suggests it originates from the Malay for rich which is “rani” which brings it back to the Cape then.
However they do use it like I know it as lani(e) or larnie instead of larney like Urban Dictionary.
Larney
Meaning 'posh', 'classy' or 'dressed up', this word is short for 'Hollander', which in the early twentieth century signified an upper-class person dressed in fashionable European styles and distinct from the local 'yokel' or Afrikaner. The words seem to be connected via the intermediate form 'landie', which is still used in parts of Cape Town and Mozambique.
Collins Dictionary:
larney [South African]
First use: 20th century
Origin: probably from an Indian language