Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/159

 io s. it. AC,:, is. 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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kander authors, and provided with copious notes and a vocabulary. The dialect of Paarl is taken as the norm. Some of the extracts are original South African prose or verse, others are translated from standard -German or English writers. Among the latter I am glad to find a portion of the life of President Garfield, and Reitz's quaint rendering of Byron's 'Maid of Athens,' begin- ning

Sannie Beyers, eer ons sky,

Ge my hart terug an my !

One very amusing piece of topical poetry is that in which martial law, personified as Martji Louw (i.e. Martha Louw), is denounced, the epithet with which she is qualified in the following verse being, it will be remembered, that which was once applied to Queen Victoria :

Ja, Martji Louw

la 'n kwaai ou-frou,

Mar 'k hoor, sy le op sterwe.

Is sy eers doot,

Dan 'a daar gen noot

Ons fry-heit weer te erwe. The distinction between Cape Dutch and literary Dutch is roughly similar to that between Yiddish and literary German. Sim- plification has proceeded even further than in English. Grammatical gender has dis- appeared, so have all inflections of noun and adjective. Even the pronouns, at least in the plural, no longerdifferentiate between nomina- tive and accusative. The Boer makes ons play the part of both " we " and " us," and hulle of both "they "and "them," besides which ons and hulle also do for " our " and ** their." In the verb there is no distinction between the persons. Just as vulgar Hindustani makes Jiai do duty for the whole present tense of the verb ** to be," so the Boer says ek is, jy is, hy is, ons is, Julie is, hulle is. The same holds cood of every verb in the language. The diminutive termination, in literary Dutch -je, is used about as commonly as in Scotch, and has the same sound as the Scotch -ie. Thus it is that the kopje of the higher style of ortho- graphy is never colloquially pronounced otherwise than koppie. The foreign element in the vocabulary of the Taal is comparatively large. The long historical connexion between the Cape and the Dutch East India Company introduced into the language a number of words from the Malayo-Portuguese, which in those days served as lingua franca throughout the Orient. Such are, for example, assegtiai, bainy or banya (very), kartel, kraal, mandoor, matkiej mili (mealie), not, pikanini, sjambok, ftn/Kiai, tronk (Portuguese tronco), &c. A second important element is formed by vocables borrowed from the Hottentots, with

whom the Dutch were early brought into contact, or from the Kafirs, whom they met later. Examples, dauw, impi, karree, kiri (knob-kerrie), koedoe, ourebi. The growing influence of English is most visible in the syntax. From this reading -book can be readily gathered a sheaf of phrases which require an explanation to a German, but are perfectly clear to an Englishman ; such as ek dink so (I think so), dis ni fair ni (That 's not fair), goat jy ook in fer di ding (Do you also go in for the thing ?), &c.

JAS. PLATT, Jun.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

WESTMINSTER SCHOOL BOARDING-HOUSES. At various times there have been many such houses, and they were mostly situated in Great and Little College Streets, Great and Little Smith Streets, Great and Little Dean's Yards, and Abingdpn Street. So far as I can trace, the principal ones have been Mrs. Beresford's, Fitzgerald's, Vincent Bourne's, Tollett's, Ludford's, Button's, Mrs. Catherine Porten's, Hilkiah Bedford's, Clapham's, Mrs. Driftield's, Clough's, Farren's, Burgess's, Mrs. Morell's, Glover's, Smedley's, and Grant's. We are told that Button's, where Charles Wesley boarded, was in Little College Street. Is the position which it occupied in the street known ? There are none or the old houses now left. Mrs. Catherine Porten established hers *'in College Street in 1748," and it was here that Edward Gibbon boarded, the pro- prietor being his aunt. Was it in Great or Little College Street? Mrs. Porten after- wards moved into a presumably larger house, " on the terrace at the south side of Dean's Yard." Is the house known ? Clapham's was, I believe, afterwards known as Jones's, Best's, Benthall's, and since 1846 as Rigaud's. The last was rebuilt, I have been told, in 1897, and, like Grant's, is still existent, as is also, I believe, the one originally known as Mrs. Driffield's, which at a subsequent time became Scott's. Burgess's was in Great Smith Street. I shall be glad to know its position. Jeremy Bentham boarded at Mrs. Morell's, which makes it of considerable interest. As this locality is fast being im- proved out of knowledge and existence, it may be difficult in a very short time to trace these houses. W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY.

Westminster.