The language in its grammatical structure is beautiful and regular. Dr Bleek describes it as having the distinctive features of the suffix-pronominal order or higher form of languages, in which the pronouns are identical with and borrowed from the derivative suffixes of the nouns. The words are mostly monosyllables, always ending, with two exceptions, in a vowel or nasal sound. Among the consonants neither l, nor f nor v is found. There are two g’s, g hard and g guttural, and a deeper guttural kh. Diphthongs abound. There is no article, but the definite or indefinite sense of a noun is determined by the gender. In the fullest known dialect (that spoken by the Namaqua) nouns are formed with eight different suffixes, which in nouns designating persons distinguish masc. sing. (-b), masc. plur. (-ku), masc. dual (kha), fem. sing, (-s), fem. plur. (-ti), com. sing. (-i), com. plur. (-u), com. dual (-ra). The adjective is either prefixed to a noun or referred to it by a suffixed pronoun. This grammatical division of the nouns according to gender led to the classification of the language as “sex-denoting,” thus suggesting its relationship, in original structure, with the Galla and others.
There are four dialectical varieties of the language, each with well-marked characteristics: the Nama dialect, spoken by the Namaqua as well as by the Hau-Khoin or Hill Damara; the Kora dialect, spoken by the Koranna, or Koraqua, dwelling about the middle and upper part of the Orange, Vaal and Modder rivers; the Eastern dialect, spoken by the Gona or Gonaqua on the borders of Kaffirland; and the Cape dialect, now no longer spoken but preserved in the records of early voyagers and settlers. Of the Nama dialect there are three grammars: Wallmann’s (1857) and Hahn’s in German, and Tindall’s (1871) in English, the last being the best; and the four Gospels, with a large amount of missionary literature, have been published in it.
The vocabulary is not limited merely to the expression of the rude conceptions that are characteristic of primitive races. It possesses such words as koi, human being; khoi-si, kindly or friendly; koi-si-b, philanthropist; khoi-si-s, humanity; ♯ ei, to think; ♯ ei-s, thought; amo, eternal; amo-si-b, eternity; tsa, to feel; tsa-b, feeling, sentiment; tsa-kha, to condole; ama, true; ama-b, the truth; anu, sacred; anu-si-b, holiness; esa, pretty; anu-xa, full of beauty.
Literature and History.—Much traditionary literature—fables, myths and legends—existed amongst the Hottentots,—a fact first made known by Sir James Alexander, who in his journeyings through Great Namaqualand in 1835 jotted down the stories told him around the camp fire by his Hottentot followers. These Hottentot tales generally have much of the character of fables; some are in many points identical with northern nursery tales, and suggestive of European origin or of contact with the white man; but the majority bear evidence of being true native products. Bleek’s Reynard the Fox in South Africa (1864) contains a translation of a legend written down from the lips of the Namaqua by the Rev. G. Krönlein, which is regarded as an excellent specimen of the national style. Another legend relating to the moon and the hare conveys the idea of an early conception of the hope of immortality. It is found in various versions, and, like many other stories, occurs in Bushman as well as in Hottentot mythology.
The earliest accounts of the Hottentots occur in the narratives of Vasco da Gama’s first voyage to India round the Cape in 1497-1498. In 1510 the Portuguese viceroy, Francisco d’Almeida, count of Abrantes, met his death in a dispute with the natives. Till the 17th century they were believed to be cannibals, but with the occupation of the Cape by the Dutch, in 1652, more accurate knowledge was obtained. A century of Dutch rule resulted in the Hottentots becoming a nation of slaves and in serious danger of extermination, and thus the arrival of the English in 1795 was welcomed by them. In 1828 an ordinance was passed declaring “all Hottentots and other free persons of colour” entitled to all and every right to which any other British subjects were entitled. (See [Cape Colony]: History; and [South Africa].)
Bibliography.—A. de Quatrefages, Les Pygmées (1887); G. W. Stow, The Native Races of South Africa (1905); E. T. Hamy, “Les Races nègres,” in L’Anthropologie (1897), pp. 257 et sqq.; F. Shrubsall, “Crania of African Bush Races,” in Jour. Anthrop. Inst. (November 1897); W. H. J. Bleek, A Comparative Grammar of South African Languages (1862); and “Die Hottentotten Stämme,” in Petermanns Mit. (1858), pp. 49 et sqq.; G. Fritsch, Die Eingebornen Süd-Afrikas (1872), and “Schilderungen der Hottentotten,” in Globus (1875), pp. 374 et sqq.; G. Bertin, “The Bushmen and their Language,” in Jour. R. Asiat. Soc. xviii., part i., and reprint; P. Kolbe or Kolben, Present State of the Cape of Good Hope; Sir John Barrow, Travels in South Africa (1801-1804).
[1] See paper by Messrs Flower and Murie in Journ. Comp. Anat. and Physiology (1867); and Fritsch, Die Eingebornen Süd-Afrikas (Breslau, 1873).
[2] An interesting notice of this form of worship occurs in the journal of an expedition which the Dutch governor, Ryk van Tulbagh, sent to the Great Namaqua in 1752, which reached as far as the Kamob or Lion river (about 27° S. lat.).
[3] On the religion and antiquities see Theophilus Hahn’s papers, “Graves of the Heitsi-Eibib,” in Cape Monthly Magazine (1879). and “Der hottentottische Zai-goab und der griechische Zeus,” in Zeitschr. für Geogr. (Berlin, 1870).