togt, noun and & adjective

/tɔxt/
Forms:
Also toch, tog.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans (now tog), from Dutch tocht expedition, journey.
A. noun
1. In historical contexts
a. A trading expedition or venture. Often in the phrase on togt, on such an expedition. Also attributive.
[1821 C.I. Latrobe Jrnl of Visit 375The master of the house..was about to set off..on a trip..to dispose of it (sc. arrack) in barter...They call this going op de tocht.]
1860 Queenstown Free Press 8 Feb.Horses have been discovered amongst those of ‘smouses’ who were returning to the upper districts after a somewhat successful togt.
1862 Lady Duff-Gordon Lett. from Cape (1925) 114He has made a fortune by ‘going on togt’, as thus: He charters two waggons...The waggons he fills with cotton, hardware, etc., etc. — an ambulatory village ‘shop’ — and goes about fifteen miles a day..swapping baftas (calico), punjums (loose trousers), and voerschitz (cotton gown-pieces)..against oxen and sheep.
1862 Lady Duff-Gordon Lett. from Cape (1925) 127I have just bought eight splendid ostrich feathers for £1 of my old ‘togt’ friend.
1883 M.A. Carey-Hobson Farm in Karoo 154I had a fine crop this year and so I thought I had better take both the waggons and go on ‘Toch,’ and I have sold them very well.
[1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 222Half the village was making wagons while the other half was away on togry selling the wagons in the republics.]
1963 Pollock & Agnew Hist. Geog. 64Farmers living in the Lang Kloof went on long trading trips, known as togts, to obtain salt from Swartkops River and to trade with the Bantu and Hottentots.
b. comb.
togt-ganger, also togganger [Dutch, gang go + personif. suffix -er], an adventurer; a travelling trader; also called smous.
1854 H. Lynar in Cape of G.H. Annexures 20In the case of a togtganger, who was lately convicted of selling guns without a licence, it appeared in evidence that his wagons were more like travelling canteens than anything else.
1879 Cape Monthly Mag. XVIII. Feb. 88For a long time he used to accompany the togtgangers (hawkers or traders).
1896 R. Wallace Farming Indust. of Cape Col. 91The plant (sc. prickly pear) was first spread in the Colony by transport riders or togt-gangers.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 31In slack times the clever speculators known as toggangers would drive out of Paarl with cavalcades of carts and wagons.
2. A casual labourer; casual labour. Also attributive.
Note:
Quotation 1948 (Report of Native Laws Commission) may be an example of adjectival usage.
1901 A.R.R. Turnbull Tales from Natal 120The black devils..so often put us about by deserting — without even the possibility of our being able to obtain togt even.
1948 Report of Native Laws Commission 1946–8 37Migrant labour tends to be casual and to produce less and earn less than stable labour. The supply of such labour is often badly adjusted to the demand...In Durban it is..a characteristic of so-called togt or daily labour.
1948 O. Walker Kaffirs Are Lively 172A Native is required to carry on his person..one or more of the following documents..A receipt for togt (casual labour) licence.
1969 Receipt, Grahamstown MunicipalityThe togt licence or document of registration.
B. adjective Casual; hired by the day.
1898 Port Elizabeth Telegraph (Weekly ed.) 2 Sept.A Chinaman refused to supply a small quantity of bread and sugar to a togt boy on Saturday.
1907 Col. of Natal Native Affairs Commission 1906–7 36Togt natives complained of not being able to earn sufficient money, and in many cases they were unable to work more than three days a week.
1923 G.H. Nicholls Bayete! 266In Durban, the togt boys, and the native employees of large corporations, left their barracks at the same hour as their countrymen surged out of the mining compounds of Johannesburg.
1939 Report of Railways & Harbours Board (UG21–1939) 16The wages of ‘togts’ and ‘togt indunas’ at the Point, Durban, should be increased by 6d. per day.
1951 Cape Argus 5 Jan. 5Durban harbour had been crippled by a shortage of rail trucks and togt (casual) labour...A compound capable of housing up to 1,000 togt labourers should be set aside for this purpose.
1960 J.J.L. Sisson S. Afr. Judicial Dict. 121Casual labourer, in terms of Native Pass Laws, is synonymous with the term togt labourer.
1961 D. Bee Children of Yesterday 69For these jobs he..hired an occasional ‘togt-boy’ — daily paid labourer — on his own account.
1968 K. McMagh Dinner of Herbs 101I very hungry, I looking for work. Is there work, togt work nearby?
1972 J. McClure Caterpillar Cop (1974) 139He had slunk up to the door..and informed the maid he was a togt boy. She..said there were no odd jobs going.
1977 T.R.H. Davenport S. Afr.: Mod. Hist. 355An open compound system could be used for the control of casual (‘togt’) labourers.
1983 P. Warwick Black People & S. Afr. War 144Discontent prevailed, too, among togt labourers at the docks in Durban (i.e. those workers hired and paid on a daily basis).
1986 J. Conyngham Arrowing of Cane 60I scan the surrounding expanse of cane — the togt gang must weed there.
A trading expedition or venture. Often in the phrase on togt, on such an expedition. Also attributive.
an adventurer; a travelling trader;
A casual labourer; casual labour. Also attributive.
Casual; hired by the day.
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tog, adverbadv.tokkelok, nounn.
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