ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATL'RE IN SOUTH AFRICA. I55 



So far as the N.E.D. is concerned, the South African good-for, 

 {i.e. a card signed in a Hotel or Chib for drinks on credit) shares 

 the fate of dop, although its history is interesting. The expression 

 originated in the Rix-dollar paper currency which was introduced 

 at the Cape towards the end of the i8th century. As the lowest 

 paper was one skilling many people in business issued private 

 cards for parts of the skilling. 



The children of the country I'cveal strange attempts at new 

 words in their examination papers. I had over a hundred cases 

 in the School Higher of 1907 of the expression hred out = hatched 

 (" locust eggs are after a time bred out.") This is, of course, due 

 to Dutch uithroeden. 



As might be expected we have borrowed from India, America, 

 and various British Colonies useful words. In Home English 

 hilly is a term like jack applied to various machines and useful 

 articles : in Australia it was specialised to mean what it means 

 here ; we borrowed it in its Australian form. America has given 

 us store (=shop), buggy, and a few others. 



The word kraal is often regarded as a native word, but it is 

 through a Dutch medium derived ultimately from the Portuguese 

 ctirral, or corral. From India we get coolie, bungaloiv {i.e. probably 

 ' belonging to Bengal '). and through the Portuguese medium 

 kartel (of a cart). 



Of course Dutch has been the chief source from which we have 

 increased our English vocabulary, and many of the words so 

 derived have been valuable and even necessary additions. In 

 some cases we have fought against Dutch words and ended in a 

 compromise ; we have not adopted the Dutch words in their 

 Dutch dress but have changed the external form, though keeping 

 the inner body, especially in compounds. This is true of such 

 words as off-saddle, off-load. etc. The word outspan is interesting 

 as showing the superior power of local Dutch surroundings over 

 far-away English influences. I see that in the particulars of 

 Servitudes on land, drawn up in the first half of last century, the 

 authorities use the strange word nnteam in this sense, adding 

 the word outspan in brackets ; thus 



" That the persons resorting to the Forest to cut wood shall have the 

 xight to iiuteain (outspan) on the land hereby granted."* 



As regards the use of Dutch as slang English, which is very 

 offensive though expressive, I have no time to deal with the 

 subject here. Words such as trek, spoor, hok we can accept as 

 good colonial English, but there are many others which ought to 

 be tabooed. 



II. I come now to the second main division of my treatment of 

 the language, viz. : The contamination of English by co)itact with 

 alien tongues. 



The native languages are, comparatively speaking, innocent 

 in this respect, as their influence on grammar and idiom may 

 be neglected, and as regards vocabulary they have not injured 

 the purity of our mixed language : but Dutch, on the contrary, 



* Division of Alexandria, quoted in Gi-ocott's Penny Mail, May 14th, 1909. 



