PREFACE.


 5. Every noun in Kaffir has a prefix and a root form. The pre-
fixes are inseparable from the roots, but their initial letters could
not be conveniently used as the Alphabetical arrangement of the
Dictionary, as the letters a, i, and u, are the only initial letters of
the nominal prefixes. In the arrangement of the Dictionary, the
small letters which precede the root-word, as i, ili, isi, u, ?lu, urn,
ubz, aba, ama, izi, imi, and uku, are these prefixes.
 6. The sounds and power of the letters are spoken of under each
letter: nothing therefore need be said on that subject in these pre-
fatory remarks, excepting that the vowels are pronounced full and
open, with a long and short quantity. The long open sound is
heard in accented syllables and all final vowels; and the short
sound in unaccented syllables.
 7. There are some combinations of consonants which are peculiar
to the Kaffir language, such as dl, dlw, tsh, tshw, tyw, nhl, mny,
&c., the pronunciation of which can only be acquired by practice.
The letters c, x, and q represent clicks, and the letter r with a dot
above it, thus, i, represents a guttural sound: these sounds can only
be learnt from one of the Kaffir nation, or from a European who
has acquired the language. When the letter r is written icithout
the dot, as it is often in words which are adopted from European
languages, it retains its sound as in English.
 8. The accent is on the penultimate syllable of every polysyllabic
word; but when a word is compounded of a polysyllabic word and a
monosyllable, the particle added acts as an enclitic, and the accent
is thrown forward to the last syllable of'the word to which the par-
ticle or monosyllable is affixed. As:-Hdmba : Go; Ham'bdke: Go
then: Bafikile: They have arrived; Bafikilena ? Have they arrived?
 9. No person but one who has lived among them, can form an
adequate idea of the difficulty of collecting and arranging words
for a Dictionary of the language of a people sunk so low in igno-
rance and barbarism as the Kaffirs, who, when Missionaries first
went to reside among them, were without the knowledge of books,
and had no written characters whereby to represent their ideas.
The author of this, the first Dictionary of the Xosa Kaffir, is by
no means sanguine as to the work being complete and perfect.
He is well aware that there are many words in the language which
will not be found here, that some of the meanings might be better
expressed, and perhaps in some instances errors of signification will
be found, although it is hoped these will be few. Such drawbacks
must necessarily exist in the first Dictionary of any language; but