Dating the final IE unity, in particular the word for "

[Jim Rader]

>The word 'quagga' itself is from Afrikaans which is
> from Xhosa and probably ultimately from one of the Khoisan languages (since
> the word starts with a click in Xhosa).

> John E. McLaughlin, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> mclasutt at brigham.net

Small point of correction here, but the earliest attestations of
<quagga>  (spelled <quacha>, <quayha>, etc.) occur in the written
Dutch of Cape Colony beginning in 1691--see G.S. Nienaber's
_Hottentots_ (Pretoria, 1963) for documentation.  The word was
picked up by English zoological writers in the late 18th century--see
documentation in _A Dictionary of South African English_ (DSAE). The
word must have been borrowed directly from a Khoikhoi or San
language, not Xhosa, given that Europeans were only minimally in
contact with the Xhosa at this time.  DSAE gives the Xhosa word as
<iqwarha>, undoubtedly a Khoisan borrowing, but not the source of the
English word.

Jim Rader