Dagga () is a word used in certain areas of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

to describe

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

. The term, dating to the 1660s, derives from the word ''dacha'' in the

Khoekhoe Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

language used to describe the plant as well as various species of Leonotis. The leaves of specifically the

Leonotis leonurus ''Leonotis leonurus'', also known as lion's tail and wild dagga, is a plant species in the mint family, Lamiaceae. The plant is a broadleaf evergreen large shrub native to South Africa and southern Africa, where it is very common. The word has been spelled many different ways over time as various groups of people began using the term and some examples of these are: ''daggha, dacha, dacka, dagha, tagga, dachka, daga''. According to the ''Oxford Dictionary'', ''dagga'' was also used by the Khoekhoe to describe the sensation of intoxication.

Etymology

While it's fairly well known that the first written use of the term was in Jan van Riebeeck’s journal in 1658 and spelled ''daccha'', it was most likely as a reference to the indigenous " wild dagga" that has a similar leaf shape with the jagged edges. The two plants have a very different flower however and some scholars have questioned people's inability to tell them apart. hfbd Another theory put forward by two scholars (Hahn and Lichtenstein) in 1963 proposed that the

dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

word for

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, ''tabak'', which was then referred to as ''twak'', was morphed over time into ''twaga'' and later to ''toaga'' and finally into ''dagga''. Brian du Toit, in his book, ''Cannabis in Africa'' (1980) disagreed suggesting the Khoekhoe word ''daXa-b'' (tobacco), is the root noun from which the word ''dagga'' was derived. Their word for green is ''!am'' and when added to ''daXa-b'' it resulted in ''amaXa-b'' namely green tobacco. This theory is supported by Jean Branford, who in her 1978 book, ''A Dictionary of South African English'' drew similar conclusions. julle moet op ander platvorms kyk inplass net van wikapidia

1940s–present

In 1948 the National Party came to power and they, like their predecessors, continued the

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

of the plant. Being an

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

political party and given that the phonetic ‘ga’ already expressed disgust in the language, they embraced the use of the word to extend criticism towards the drug and anyone that used it. This gave ''dagga'' a social stigma over time and as such, most pro-cannabis enthusiasts still refuse to use it. This has changed in more recent times as people involved in the anti-prohibition movement such as the Dagga Couple and the Dagga Party "reclaim" the word in an attempt to remind people of its history and meaning.

External links

Online Etymology Dictionary: Dagga

References

{{Cannabis, state=collapsed Cannabis culture Cannabis in South Africa English words Etymologies

Etymology

1940s–present

See also

External links

References