772. ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES. 



Mountains. This accounts for the number of se-Suto names in 

 tliat part of the Transkei. Lesser names, like Nondzaha and 

 Sigonyela, and others, might be inckided, and also for the sake of 

 completeness one should also mention that large class of names 

 which arose out of sundry wars, such as Emfabantu, Oelana 

 Xokonxa, ct hos genus oinne. 



II. — Names according -to Shape or Special Characteristics. 



The first name calling for attention in this connection is Ama- 

 linde, or Amalindi, a name given to the most remarkable surface 

 formation found near Kingwilliamstown and elsewhere, the 

 origin of which geologically remains unexplained. Over fairly 

 wide areas there are curious cup-shaped depressions in the ground, 

 a few feet deep and a few feet across, suggesting to the 

 native mind the idea of a person marked by small-pox. Com- 

 mittee's Drift, on the Great Fish River, is really a misnomer, 

 arising mistakenly from the Dutch way of describing this forma- 

 tion. 



The Dutch pioneers were impressed with the numerous small 

 basin-like depressions, and called the jjlace Kontinetjes Drift, 

 which was erroneously anglicized to Committee's Drift. 



Caba is derived from tlie flatness of the locality from ukiiti- 

 caba, and Tsolo is tlie name given to the conical mountain near 

 Somerville Mission, and thence transferred to the Magistracy and 

 District. In the case of Cive-cive, there might possibly have been 

 a doubt as to whether the place was named after a certain flat 

 shell, or whether the liat character of the locality determined the 

 name, but, fortunately, the prefix is preserved, and we know that 

 it is i-civecive and not u-cufeczife, and therefore the second expla- 

 nation is the correct one. Civectveni, expressing the locative, and 

 other forms are also to be found. 



Dikidiki and the name Tikitiki are both derived from the 

 former word, niean'n-^ lukewarmness, and altered slightly in the 

 second name by dialectical variation. 



Elujeciveni comes from uku-jeca, to cut through at a stroke 

 (as with an axe), and refers to a locality in the mountains sug- 

 gesting such a cut. In its nasalised form, Jenca, we get the same 

 idea. Such nasalising is a feature of tribes in the locality, as Mr. 

 ( iodf rey points out, and " on the contrary, where true Kaffir has 

 n in front of another consonant, the n is often omitted here " 

 {i.e., in Tsolo District). 



Mncetyana appears to be another nasalising, and in this case 

 i^ to be regarded as an alternative to Cetshana. a diminutive of 

 vm-Cepc, a half calabash, used for ladling. 



Esiqungqzvini, a name of H.-B. origin, ai)pareiitly conceals 

 a new word, meaning a hump, nose, and arises from the curious 

 nose-like hill. 



Hlatiknht deroies a large forest; Elitiiibeni, at the opening, 

 gap ; Madwaleni, at the place of the large exposed flat stones. 



