<P> Arguments for a more Southern origin for the word note the tendency of English to adopt loan words in language contact situations, as well as the ubiquity of the "okeh" particle . Similar particles exist in native language groups distinct from Iroquoian (Algonquian, Cree cf . "ekosi") and its usefulness in conversation (a verbal equivalent to nodding one's head) as the main reasons for its rapid spread among English speakers . </P> <P> A verifiable early written attestation of the particle' kay' is from transcription by Smyth (1784) of a North Carolina slave not wanting to be flogged by a European visiting America: </P> <P> Kay, massa, you just leave me, me sit here, great fish jump up into da canoe, here he be, massa, fine fish, massa; me den very grad; den me sit very still, until another great fish jump into de canoe;...</P> <P> A West African (Mande and / or Bantu) etymology has been argued in scholarly sources, tracing the word back to the Wolof and Bantu word waw - kay or the Mande (aka "Mandinke" or "Mandingo") phrase o ke . </P>

When did the word ok first appear in the english language