Editing Muti (section)

==Name==
[[File:Margaritaria discoidea medicine bark.JPG|thumb|right|Stem of ''[[Margaritaria discoidea]]'' at [[Ilanda Wilds]], South Africa, showing old scar from bark removal for muti use]]
In [[South African English]], the word {{lang|en-ZA|muti}} is derived from the [[Zulu language|Zulu]]/[[Xhosa language|Xhosa]]/[[Northern Ndebele language|Northern Ndebele]] {{lang|zu|umuthi}}, meaning 'tree', whose root is {{lang|zu|-thi}}. In [[Southern Africa]], {{lang|zu|muti}} and other [[cognates]] of {{lang|zu|umuthi}} are in widespread use in most indigenous African languages as well as in South African English and [[Afrikaans]], which sometimes use {{lang|af|muti}} as a slang word for medicine in general.<ref name=Africa>{{cite web |title=Traditional African Healing |url=http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/traditionalhealing.html |publisher=African Code |access-date=18 September 2012 |archive-date=24 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824073004/http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/traditionalhealing.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

This noun is of the ''umu''/''imi'' class so the singular ('tree') is ''umuthi'' and the plural ('trees') is ''imithi''. Since the pronunciation of the initial vowel of this class is unstressed, the singular is sometimes pronounced ''muthi''. The word is rendered as ''muti'' by the historical effects of the British [[colonialism|colonial]] spelling.

In colloquial English and Afrikaans the word {{lang|af|muti}} is often used to refer to medicines in general or medicines that have a 'miraculous' effect, e.g.
* "{{Lang|af|Die dokter het 'muti' op die seerplek gesmeer en die volgende dag was dit heeltemal gesond.}}" (The doctor rubbed {{lang|af|muti}} on the wound and the next day it was completely healed.)
* "{{Lang|af|My dokter het vir my 'muti' verskaf vir my seer keel.}}" ("My doctor gave me some {{lang|af|muti}} for my sore throat.")