6.2 Khoikhoi

6.2 Khoikhoi

By Peter Snyders with the support of Unison Music and Literature 25.9.2025

Compelled at the Cape

On page 5, Vasco da Gama at Mossel Bay made signs to the Khoikhoi to follow them. After going ashore, he again showed by signs that the Khoikhoi should retreat and that only one or two of them should approach.

 Sir James Lancaster, in August 1591, compelled a local at the Cape with signs to bring some cattle. When he returned to the Cape in 1601, he spoke to the indigenes in cattle language, calling oxen Moath (moo-a) and Baa for sheep. Further than this, he made signs to them to bring more sheep, this after he had bartered for a thousand sheep and forty-two oxen. pp. 15 & 23. Please keep this transaction in mind when we close with Thomas Herbert on Before van Riebeeck by R Raven-Hart, page 120.

 Da Gama was Portuguese, and Sir James Lancaster was obviously English. On December 4, 1601, the Dutchman, Joris, says that ‘eight or ten savages of the country came to our tent, showing us all friendliness and letting it be known by signs that they would bring us enough oxen, cows and sheep etc.’

Before van Riebeeck by R Raven-Hart p.27

 It is difficult to learn three or more languages that are not only completely different to yours, but you also only rather shortly communicate with them. The Khoikhoi discovered that everyone had a sign type of crude language within them; that with some effort, they could make themselves understood using the same signs. It was just a question of refining the sign language.

 The English, with John Jourdain, on July 15, 1608, writes, ‘To these people we made signes for cattle and sheepe; which by our signes they understoode us, makeinge shew (as we understoode them).’

Before van Riebeeck by R Raven-Hart p.41

 Here we see that the Khoikhoi could understand the sign language of any community because they were using the same signs. Signs do not work efficiently on their own; they require pointing to the things in question. We have seen that when the item like sheep or cattle is not present they would make the sounds that these animals make.

 The writer with John Sari’s, 7^th February 1610, says that they were looking for ginseng but could not find any. They showed the naturals the root. The Khoikhoi took them to where they thought the root was growing. Making signs, they showed that the plant must be a foot above the ground before it can be picked. At present, the leaves of the plant lay too close to the earth.

Before van Riebeeck by R Raven-Hart p.53

 Here, we see how sign language needs to ‘see’ the thing being spoken of, and together with signs, the Khoikhoi could be more easily understood; they could elaborate on its growth and correct timing to reap the ginseng.

 By the time of Sir Thomas Roe, 1615, the Khoikhoi could show by signs that their hearts were good. By then, no mention is made of bartering. They began by making the sounds of the oxen and sheep, and like the English, they probably picked up a few more one-syllable words.

Before van Riebeeck by R Raven-Hart p.77

 We learnt that by the time Sir John Lancaster visited the Cape in 1601, an ox was called a moath (moo-a) and a sheep a baa. By 1607, recognising two of William Keeling’s crew, the Khoikhoi hugged them.

Before van Riebeeck by R Raven-Hart p.34.

 When Cornelis Matelief and some of his men on 13 April 1608 met the ‘blacks’ locals, the Khoikhoi again and again said to them ‘kahou, kahou’ meaning ‘sit down.’ (Correctly ǂnũ.) A bull/cow they called bou (gomab/s/i) and a sheep bae (gūb/s/i). gūb signifies male sheep; gūs is a female sheep and gūi is for a sheep too young to easily see its gender, being neutral. The same can be said of gomab/s/i.

It is readily seen that gūs (pronounced as goose) is nowhere near bae, which means that the Khoikhoi had adopted the European words.

 There were ships always as part of a fleet, frequently anchoring in Table Bay. So it took seven years before the indigenous livestock farmers first found that naming sheep by the European sound was better than trying to make signs about them. They also showed that their only option was to use their own words for sit down. It is, of course, quite different to the European interpretation.

 Europeans felt themselves superior to the Africans, and there was no way that they were going to learn Kora, the language spoken by the Khoikhoi at the Cape. In 1608, the circumstances were different. The whites needed livestock that they could barter for scraps. They therefore took the signs to a sound level.

 By the time of Coree, 1616, boos for cattle and baas for sheep were the accepted terms. In Kora, there are only five vowels, each with one way of expression. Ox would work, but not cow, because they had no diphthongs in their language. Sheep would work, but by then, everyone knew it by baa.

 After Coree’s return in June 1614, he had learnt some English words during his six months’ stay in London. He was sure to be taught all the things the English were interested in, including a few verbs. He could therefore, with less misunderstanding, communicate with the English. The Dutch were raiders, so Coree kept far away from them.

 Let’s finish the Before van Riebeeck with where the Thomas Herbert crew in 1637 tried to understand some Kora. The writer says, ‘as to their Language, something I writ from one that I considered as the most sober in the Company … the words are as follows.’

 English                                               Kora

 In the table, we see that the Khoikhoi language was very difficult to speak, no matter how hard the English tried. If they had more and closer contact with each other, they may have been closer to the Kora words. This introduction to Kora gives US the opportunity to shut down this blog and continue with it under the blog called Kaaps. Kaaps is a language where contact became more frequent after Jan van Riebeeck came to settle here. This meant the Kora could use the sounds of Kora and changed the sounds, mostly vowels, to accord with the rules of their own language.

 This is where we leave Khoikhoi. We will carry on Khoikhoi and Khoisan under Before Van Riebeeck. Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape in 1487. Ten years later, in 1497, Vasco Da Gama managed to get to India via the Cape sea route. After this, there were several Callers at the Cape, and some 150 years later, Van Riebeeck set up his halfway station at the Cape.

 There were many nationalities calling at the Cape for fresh water and bartering with the indigenous people where possible. These included Portuguese, Dutch, English and to a lesser extent, the French and Danes. The locals were exposed to their languages, so a pidgin was taking root long before Jan van Riebeeck was stationed at the Cape.

 16.10.2025.