dagga, noun2

/ˈdaxa/, /ˈdaxə/
Forms:
daaga, daccaShow more Also daaga, dacca, dacha, dacka, daga, daka, dakha, dakka, docha, doka, tagga.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African Dutch, KhoikhoiShow more Afrikaans, earlier South African Dutch adaptation of Khoikhoi dachab.
1. The marijuana or Indian hemp plant Cannabis sativa of the Cannabaceae; (especially) the dried leaves of this plant, used as a narcotic; boom noun sense 1; hoenderpoot, see hoender sense 1; insangu; matekwane; parcel sense 2; stop sense 2; tree of knowledge; zol noun sense 2. Also attributive. See also Durban poison (Durban), majat.
Note:
Quantities of dagga are variously referred to as arm, cob noun2, stop (sense 1), zol (sense 1 b).
1670 J. Ogilby Africa 583A powerful Root, which they call Dacha; sometimes eating it, other-whiles mingling it with Water to drink; either of which ways taken, causeth Ebriety.
1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. I. 210Dacha, is a Thing, of which the Hottentots are..mighty fond. It banishes Care and Anxiety, say they, like Wine or Brandy, and inspires them with a Million of delightful Fancies..this I know, that it often intoxicates ’em to downright Madness..They often mix Dacha and Tobacco together.
1796 tr. of Le Vaillant’s New Trav. III. 267The people wished for tobacco and dacca (the leaves of hemp).
1821 C.I. Latrobe Jrnl of Visit 471There is in this country a plant, called by the Hottentots, Dacha, a species of wild hemp (cicuta). Some of them smoke it like tobacco, or mix it with the latter herb, and are exceedingly fond of it.
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 366The common hemp, called dakka, was here raised for the purpose of being given as presents to the Bushmen, who smoke it instead of tobacco; as do also many of the Hottentots; but it is considered more deleterious and inebriating.
1836 A.F. Gardiner Journey to Zoolu Country 106Tobacco composed of the dried leaf of the wild hemp, here called Dacca, is in general use, and has a very stupifying effect, frequently intoxicating.
1852 in Godlonton & Irving Narr. of Kaffir War of 1850–51–52 306A shot from a lurking Kaffir passed through his dacha sack at the saddle bow.
1860 W. Shaw Story of my Mission 507By means of a long tube they contrived to draw the smoke from a long wooden pipe filled with burning dacha, or wild hemp.
1878 T.J. Lucas Camp Life & Sport 94They are..much addicted to smoking the wild hemp called ‘dacca,’ which they cultivate for the purpose. The smaller leaves of this plant are dried in the sun, and being ground fine, the fumes are inhaled through a pipe, exciting the nervous system frightfully.
1886 G.A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert 125We gave our visitors some docha, a kind of wild hemp used by them as tobacco, and when they became excited under its influence they treated us to the spectacle of a dance.
1897 F.W. Sykes With Plumer in Matabeleland 101Daaga, a compound smoked by the natives in the same way that the Chinese smoke opium.
1902 G.M. Theal Beginning of S. Afr. Hist. 21Another powerful intoxicant with which they were acquainted was dacha, a species of wild hemp, and whenever this was procurable they smoked it with a pipe made of the horn of an antelope.
1926 E. Prov. Herald 9 Jan. 9Two months hard labour was the sentence passed on Macdonald Plaatjies, a native,..when charged with being in possession of dagga.
1950 E. Partridge Dict. of Underworld 175Dagga is not c[ant] but the Standard South African name for Cannabis indica (hashish, marijuana).
1952 ‘Mr Drum’ in Drum Sept. 12The colossal figure of £750,000 is spent on dagga annually on over 300,000 pounds of this deadly drug...Two million people smoke and peddle the weed...The ages of dagga addicts ranges [sic] from 11 years upwards.
1954 Star in L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. (1963) 79These young men were the White tsotsis of Johannesburg...They were hardly out of school before they became members of liquor and dagga gangs operating in the heart of the city.
1977 D. Muller Whitey 16The dagga zol was a three-out zol, and he drew it quick and long into his body.
1978 C.M. Rip Contemp. Social Pathology 87Whereas dagga, marihuana or Indian hemp are the top leaves of the plant, Hashish is the resin.
1984 D. Pinnock Brotherhoods 11Dagga (the local name for marijuana) has a usage in South Africa long predating European colonisation. In our time, however, sale, possession or use is prohibited under the Abuse of Dependence-producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centres Act of 1971.
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 25Dagga (Cannabis sativa)...The actual smoking of dagga by the Khoikhoi and black people of Southern Africa only began after the introduction of the smoking pipe by whites. Prior to this, dagga was chewed, or boiled in an infusion and drunk.
1992 South 27 Feb. 6There is considerable debate over the effects of dagga. While most heavy drug users began with dagga, there is no evidence to prove that dagga creates a dependency on hard drugs.
2. Usually with distinguishing epithet, as klipdagga /kləp-/ [Afrikaans, klip rock], red dagga, wild dagga or wilde dagga /vəldə-/ [Afrikaans (earlier South African Dutch), wilde wild]: any of several species of plant of the genus Leonotis of the Lamiaceae, especially the flowering plant Leonotis leonurus, noted for its medicinal properties, and traditionally smoked for its intoxicating effect.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. I. 145Bucku (diosma) and wild dacka (phlomis leonurus)..are known both by the colonists and the Hottentots to be as efficacious as they are common.
1796 C.R. Hopson tr. of C.P. Thunberg’s Trav. II. 191They..take delight in smoaking tobacco, either pure, or mixed with hemp, and, when they cannot procure these, wild Dakka (Phlolmis).
1815 J. Mackrill Diary. 96The Wilde Dakka or Phlomis Leon. is applied..in the Cure of venereal Complaints, which it readily eradicates.
1835 J.W.D. Moodie Ten Yrs in S. Afr. II. 169My father took two or three handfuls of ‘wilde dacha,’ (a kind of wild hemp which grows in rich ground near the coast), and boiled it in a pan, and made the slave drink a cupful every day for two or three weeks; and he made him as well again as he ever was in his life.
1847 ‘A Bengali’ Notes on Cape of G.H. 23They (sc. the San people) are ardent smokers of the ‘dacha’, a kind of hemp, for which the botanical name is, I believe, ‘Plomis leonurus’, which speedily intoxicates, and must be something like our Indian ‘bang’.
1912 E. London Dispatch 28 June 9The red Dagga, or ‘Mfincafincane’, of the Kaffirs.
1953 J. Hoyle Some Flowers of Bush 15Wild Dagga belongs to the same family as the Blue Salvia, and flowers at the same time.
1955 J.B. Shephard Land of Tikoloshe 8‘There are doubtless herbs in the bush which are good for snake bites.’ One of these..is Red Dagga (Leonotis Leonarius), of which the root only is used..while the leaves of Klip Dagga (Leonotis ovata) are said to cure viper bites.
1974 Daily Dispatch 29 June 4I wonder how it came to be called Wild Dagga. No relation at all to the drug plant.
1983 P.S. Rabie tr. of Nienaber & Raper’s Hottentot Place Names 93Dagga(fontein).., Dagga(kraal).., Dagga(rand).., farms, post office, station, etc. The component dagga (in English dagga and dacha) is the name of the Leonotis leonurus, a species of wild hemp.
1992 H. Hutchings in Weekend Post 22 Aug. (Leisure) 7Leonotis leonurus, commonly known as wild dagga, is an attractive large shrub.
3. combinations.
a. Objective:
dagga-smoking verbal noun, also attributive.
1894 C.H.W. Donovan With Wilson in Matabeleland 40It is exceedingly entertaining to watch these boys ‘dakha-smoking’.
1924 S.G. Millin God’s Step-Children 13The Rev. Andrew had not been warned about dagga-smoking.
a1951 H.C. Bosman Willemsdorp (1977) 38I’ve been getting a good number of complaints lately about dagga smoking...It’s supposed to be not only kafirs smoking it today, but white men also.
1971 Daily Dispatch 10 Sept. 13Dr. Louria said..the main drug abuse problem in the city was dagga smoking.
1979 Drum Mar. 28I took part in a dagga smoking spree and drank a lot of alcohol.
1990 J. Naidoo Coolie Location 95James Karia Kollapen, the tough, dagga-smoking Delfos centre half and star..dashed on to the field.
b. Special Combinations
dagga pipe, (a) a pipe (made and) used for smoking dagga; cf. bottleneck sense b; (b) pipe sense 2 a;
dagga-run, a name given to the most common routes taken by smugglers of dagga from the Transkei into the rest of South Africa;
dagga-runner, one who smuggles dagga;
dagga-running, the smuggling of dagga;
dagga smoker, dagga-rooker.
1860, 1902dagga pipe: [see quots at sense 1 above].
1949 H.C. Bosman in L. Abrahams Unto Dust (1963) 131The chief used to lie..in front of his hut, smoking his long dagga-pipe.
1966 I. Vaughan These Were my Yesterdays 67Old Andries our Bushman groom..got so upset, rushed to smoke a dagga pipe behind the cart house and got quite drunk.
1977 Sunday Times 1 May 7All are proficient at making dagga pipes from bottlenecks, match boxes, toilet rolls and so on.
1987 Scope 20 Nov. 40Wollies was loading up the dagga pipe.
1977 E. Prov. Herald 10 June (Indaba) 1A 30-year-old expert driver making big money on the dagga run from Transkei crashed to his death while taking a bend at speed.
1980 E. Prov. Herald 10 Oct. 1The Dordrecht-Molteno route is becoming known as the dagga run. There is an increasing use of the round route by smugglers from Transkei.
1963 A. Delius Day Natal Took Off 9The dagga-runner had delivered his load, he was returning with an empty car, and all his papers were in order.
1963 A. Delius Day Natal Took Off 9 [see national road].
1971 Sunday Times 21 Mar. 5Informed sources believe that the South African ‘dagga runners,’ who appear to some extent to have become the slaves of big-time racketeers in London, are responsible for much of the alarming increase in hard drug-taking in the Republic.
1977 E. Prov. Herald 10 June (Indaba) 1Dagga runner killed.
1972 Drum 8 Aug. 20In our games there will also be an event for dagga-runners. What with the many roadblocks they have to hurdle, dagga-running could be an exciting event.
1910 J. Buchan Prester John 73He must have been a dacha smoker, for he coughed hideously.
1944 I.D. Du Plessis Cape Malays 81Dagga smokers make the Quarter unsafe.
1954 Off. Yr Bk of Union No. 27, 1952–53 (Bureau of Census & Statistics) 1096The undesirable class which comprises the ‘skollies’, the habitual convicts and ex-convicts, the drunkards, the dagga-smokers, and the habitual smokers.
1971 Post 30 May 23As he throws back his head and breathes out the dense smoke a chuckle breaks from his throat. It rises, becomes a bubbly laugh — the laugh of the dagga smoker.
1988 E. Pople in You Jan. 17Most parents do not even know how to recognise the symptoms of a dagga smoker: red eyes, loss of appetite, bottle-necks in evidence, foreign-looking pipes, pieces of neatly rolled up paper,..a nagging cough, headaches.
1990 S. Mchunu in New African 3 Sept. 9When we teamed up with Johnny to form Juluka, the police didn’t want to see us together. Some thought we were dagga smokers or dealers.
1963 L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 102Dagga-smoking was so rife in Jeppe that the suburb had earned the nick-name of ‘Dagga Town’.
The marijuana or Indian hemp plant Cannabis sativa of the Cannabaceae; (especially) the dried leaves of this plant, used as a narcotic; boom noun sense 1; hoenderpoot, see hoender sense 1; insangu; matekwane; parcel sense 2; stop sense 2; tree of knowledge; zol noun sense 2. Also attributive.
Usually with distinguishing epithet, as klipdagga /kləp-/ [Afrikaans, klip rock], red dagga, wild dagga or wilde dagga /vəldə-/ [Afrikaans (earlier South African Dutch), wilde wild]:any of several species of plant of the genus Leonotis of the Lamiaceae, especially the flowering plant Leonotis leonurus, noted for its medicinal properties, and traditionally smoked for its intoxicating effect.
a pipe (made and) used for smoking dagga;
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dageraad, nounn.dagga-rooker, nounn.
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