154 ENGLISH lAXGl'AGE AND LITERATURE IX SOUTH AFRICA. 



collecting information in regard to land-settlements ; and our 

 subject was South African English. He said : " Well, there is 

 one usage distinctly African, that of iiirrow of a water-lead- 

 mg." 



As a matter of fact, this is quite an early English use of the 

 word, found as early as the 14th century (N.E.D.) In 1561 T. 

 Norton writes : " Out of a fountaine water is sometime dronk — 

 sometime by forrowes is conveied to the watering of groundes."* 



Some words, again, have widened their meaning in South Africa, 

 e.g., forage, camp (ostrich-, railway-), hunt. 



The ostrich industry has introduced man\' new words and 

 specialised many old ones. The various names for particular 

 kinds of feathers are quite new — jeminas, primes, byocks or bycocks, 

 etc. Specialised words are floss, flue, phicking, quilling, clipping. 

 I may call to mind in this connexion that specialised feather 

 words have been practically unknown in English since the days 

 of falconry, a sport which had a large technical vocabulary : 

 of Milton's " summed pen." and frequent Elizabethan references. 

 (3) I have now to speak of the additions to the Home vocabulary 

 which have been found necessary in this country to suit the special 

 conditions, and I include in this section words rarely used in 

 England — non-naturalized words — which on the other hand, 

 are naturalized here. The naturalization laws in the Colonies 

 differ from those of the Mother Country. 



(») To deal with additions first, we have borrowed geological 

 terms to suit the conditions : from the Dutch, kloof, 

 krans, (but cf. Shakespeare's use of term), poort. nek, 

 kopje, vlei, veld, spruit, etc. : from Native sources we 

 ha:ve donga : from our own elements we compound 

 washaway. washout, hliieground . 

 (ft) Zoology gives us countless examples : Dutch the host of 

 names of species of buck, birds, fish. etc. : the Natives 

 give us pallah (antelope), orihi. and others. The fish- 

 words are an interesting study in themselves. 

 (7) Botany adds many from all sources : — kaffirhooni, sneeze- 

 wood, stinkwood, grass-veld, sour-veld. 

 (() Sociological and general words : field-cornet, drostdy, 

 bond, hustings, commandeer, orphan-chamber ; again, 

 assegai, inipi, indiina, goiirah ; and herein I must in- 

 clude our drinks, dop. heyniitage, Constantia. Cape S)nokt, 

 van der hum, etc. 

 The new English Dictionary is often eccentric in its adoption 

 or rejection of South African words, but I consider its non-inclusion 

 of the word dop a distinct act of injustice. It tells us that he} milage 

 is derived from the French wine, so-called from a hermit's^ cell 

 on a vineyard-hill near Valence, that Constantia is so called because 

 of the name of the Constantia farm, near Capetown, that pontac 

 is based on the French wine and place named Pontac, but dop 

 has no niche in that great gallery of words, and drake nstein is 

 also ignored. 



* See also 161 1 version of the Bible and Bacon's Sylva. 



