Etymology
Soon after opening in March 1928 the names "Matopos" and "New College" were put forward as suggestions but they were rejected. A free dance ticket was offered to the person with the most suitable suggestion. The following year "Nova Tieta", "Riebeeck" and "Matopos" were the choices put before the House. An overwhelming majority accepted "Matopos" although reservations were expressed about the "feeling that might arise out of the name on account of its historical association with Rhodes".
Nothing more is mentioned in the minutes of House Committee meetings until the beginning of 1938 when there was again a call for a name. Again the reward was a free dance ticket to the person suggesting "the name for the House which is ultimately accepted".
There was a lapse until 1941 when several suggestions were made in response to yet another appeal. "Entabeni" and "Ellisona" featured on the list. Others were "Pensakola" (rejected on account of the fact that it sounded too much like "pianola"), "Beattie College" (after the former Vice-Chancellor, Sir Jock Carruthers Beattie) and "Burleigh" (after Rhodes' house in England). "Beattie College" was finally voted in by the men but it was turned down by the University on the grounds that there were at the time surviving prominent members on the University Council who were also concerned with the inauguration of Men's Residence. It was presumed that the matter had been "left in abeyance pending the ultimate destiny of the venerable gentlemen concerned". In September 1950, it was brought to the attention of the men of the House at a General House Meeting that there was a move in the direction of giving Women's Residence a new name and that Men's Residence might also be involved. "Fuller Hall" ultimately became the new appellation of Women's Residence but the House Meeting in Men's Residence that night in September resolved that they would prefer to retain the name under which they had always gone but declared that "Smuts Hall" would be the most acceptable substitute if the name had to be changed.
The Warden, J.B. Clark, passed on the suggestion to the then Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Dr T.B. Davie. Ouma Smuts, in replying to a letter asking her permission, said that she would be delighted.
On 10 November 1950, the name "Smuts Hall" was formally adopted by the House with the following motion at a General House Meeting: "That this House endorse the decision of the University Council to change the name of the Residence to `Smuts Hall'." The motion was adopted unanimously.
Read more about this topic: Smuts Hall
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)