THE POWER OF A WORD

Evening Star, Issue 23136, 9 December 1938, Page 1

THE POWER OF A WORD

It is said that Whitfield, the great English evangelist of the eighteenth century, could reduce an audience to tears or laughter by his pronunciation of the word “ Mesopotamia,” says the ‘ Christian Science Monitor.’ The Bantu native of South Africa can reduce magistrates, employers, and others set over him to something resembling tears by his pronunciation of the word “ Andiyazi.” ' . In its ingenious meaning, Andiyazi ” would mean “ L don’t know, and don’t intend to know; I didn’t see, and didn’t intend to see.” . If it were merely recalcitrance in his own interest, the adoption of “ Andiyazi ” would bo explicable, but it is just as likely to be used to his own hurt. One example is common in the law courts. . A, a native of Umdanzani, has stolen some goods belonging to B, a native of Kei Road. There is no question about A’s guilt; the police know it, the magistrate kno’ws it, and, of course, the accused knows it. The clinching question, a mere formality, really, is PU “ Will you inform the court whether these goats are yours?” h Ewe ” —“ Yes ” —is all that should be said. Instead, out from a background of dim, tribal taboos, emerges that obstructing “ Andiyazi ” —“ I don’t know; 1 don’t know what you are talking about; I don’t know anything ” —that one word says. It isn’t a word; it’s a wall; and just there the case ends. No question of “ contempt of court ” arises. The magistrate recognises, sometimes with exasperation, but generally with a practised certainty, that the law will be brought to ridicule if he proceeds with the trial, and “A,” the miscreant of Umdanzani, “ gets away with it.” From a philological sense, “ andiyazi ” is a meaning as well as a word. It is fundamental to the native language, that one such word will contain a “portmanteau” of detail. It stands to reason that no manner of compression can render feasible that “ landscape ” effect. A is fully thought out, and that meaning permeates and illumines the word.