Kraal, Corral

[Gregory {Greg} Downing]

At 12:05 PM 7/14/99 Grant Barrett <gbarrett at americandialect.org> wrote:
>Just finished a book set in South Africa. Barry, anybody: is there a
>relationship between the native krall (circle of of huts, small inward looking
>village, etc.) and corral?
>

The (colonial) Dutch _kraal_ supposedly comes from (colonial) Portuguese
_curral_ or _corral_, which I have assumed (wrongly?) is the same as Spanish
_corral_, the source of English _corral_. I have always imagined that the
general idea is an enclosure within which cattle can "run"; cf. Ports.
_correr_ = to run. Somebody probably knows better, though.


Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing at nyu.edu or gd2 at is2.nyu.edu