Robert Godfrey's major contribution to Xhosa-language studies is his
revised and expanded edition, published in 1915, of Albert Kropf's
classic Kafir-English Dictionary (1899). As a member of the staff of the
Blythswood Institution, Godfrey edited the Blythswood Review, and in
1924, in preparation for a third edition of the Dictionary, he commenced
an extended series of articles under the title Lexicography. Through
these columns he invited his readers to supply him with the Xhosa names
for birds and animals. The scope and range of the articles expanded, and
he increasingly incorporated into his column quotations from pupils'
essays on Xhosa lore and language. The articles as originally printed
and as assembled here contain considerably more information, on a wider
range of topics, and demonstrate the development of his knowledge.
Godfrey's contributions to the Blythswood Review contain invaluable
knowledge on aspects of the domestic lives and language of the
Xhosa-speaking peoples, much of it expressed in the Xhosa words. Also
included in this volume is an extensive collated list of lexical
definitions intended for inclusion in the third edition of the
Dictionary, which was never published. Altogether, this collection of
Godfrey's articles constitutes a significant source of information on
the folklore of the Xhosa-speaking peoples and the state of their
language in the early decades of the twentieth century.
