Indigenous Languages in Mainstream Media: A Milestone for Botswana’s Linguistic Heritage

Indigenous Languages in Mainstream Media: A Milestone for Botswana’s Linguistic Heritage

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On the 29th of September this year, a day before Botswana’s 59th Anniversary of Independence – which incidentally was also declared a public holiday in recognition of Team Botswana’s historic feat of being the first African country to clench the 4x400m relay World Championship title – President Advocate Duma Gideon Boko officially launched news broadcasts in four indigenous languages on Botswana Television and Radio Botswana.   Ikalanga, Shekgalagari, and Shiyeyi are the three largest (numerically) minority languages in Botswana – all…

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Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Serowe

Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Serowe

Serowe, the Traditional Capital of the Ngwato people (Bangwato), is the birthplace of the founding President of Botswana, Sir Seretse Khama, as well as two of his successors, Festus Gontebanye Mogae (3rd President), and Lt Gen Ian Khama (the 4th President – who is also his son). The village was established by his grandfather, Kgosi Khama III, in 1903 as the new capital of Bangwato, following their move from Shoshong and temporary stay at Old Palapye (Phalatswe). Serowe is therefore…

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Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Maun

Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Maun

The second largest village in Botswana (by population and land area), which is also the tourism capital of Botswana, is located in the oasis part of the Kalahari Desert, where the desert meets the wetlands of the Okavango. Maun is located on the banks of the Thamalakane and Shashe rivers, and it is no surprise that the settlement derives its name from the river reeds that are common in that area. Maun is the Tribal Capital of the Tawana (Batawana)…

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Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Kanye

Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Kanye

While Molepolole holds the crown for being the largest village in Botswana, Kanye has that distinction for being the country’s longest continuously occupied tribal capital. Home to Bangwaketse and serving as the Administrative Capital of the Southern District, Kanye, which has a population of just under 50,000, traces its origins to the late 18th century, when Kgosi Makaba II settled his people on this hilly fortress in the vicinity of the Ngotwane River. After a period of strife and nomadic…

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Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Molepolole

Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Molepolole

Molepolole, the sprawling administrative heart of Botswana’s Kweneng District, is officially the largest traditional village in Botswana and the home of the Bakwena tribe. Most etymological accounts state that the village takes its name directly from the Molepolole River. However, the history of the Bakwena – a history defined by movement, conflict, and a tireless quest for lasting stability – lends itself to a much more evocative, if speculative, linguistic interpretation: that the name signifies a place of ultimate release,…

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Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Mochudi

Etymologies and Meanings of Botswana’s Town Names – Mochudi

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From Goodhope to Mmathubudukwane, Ghanzi to Gumare, Maun to Nshakashogwe, Vukwi to Platjaan, Botswana has a rich diversity of place names, and in any Botswana language you can think of. And some with names you wouldn’t even associate with Botswana, like Zanzibar (which is better known as a Tanzanian island, far in the Indian Ocean). Some of the names are as straightforward as Mmadinare, others needing a bit of explaining, like Baines Drift (I mean, who was Baine, and what…

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The Etymology and Meaning of Gaborone

The Etymology and Meaning of Gaborone

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Gaborone – the modern city that is home to about 10% of the entire population of Botswana – has an interesting name that does not immediately sound like a word in any language you know, until it is explained in just one short phrase. However, we are going to use more than just one short phrase to get to the bottom of the etymology and meaning of Gaborone. Botswana’s most important settlement by far is one of its youngest. Well,…

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Tribute to the LEGENDE-ary “Bosso”, Jabulani Tsambo

Tribute to the LEGENDE-ary “Bosso”, Jabulani Tsambo

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Today, we pay tribute to perhaps the one person who did the most for the promotion and dissemination of the Setswana language throughout the world than all his precursors and other actors in the foreseeable future. Today, the 24th of October 2024 marks the sixth anniversary of the untimely demise of the LEGENDE-ary “Bosso”, Jabulani Tsambo – better known by his stage name Hip Hop Pantsula or just HHP. I would borrow from his track Bosso and say “Bosso ke…

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Phatwe (August in Setswana)

Phatwe (August in Setswana)

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[ENG] The Setswana name for August is Phatwe. The eighth month of the Gregorian Calendar (August/Phatwe) is also the twelfth month of the traditional Tswana lunar calendar, whose year starts with the onset on the agricultural season in August/September (Lwetse). In fact, it gets more complicated than that, since because the 12-month lunar year inevitably falls out of alignment with the seasons, and therefore the beginning of the planting season will not occur at exactly the same time each solar cycle. According…

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Phukwi (July in English)

Phukwi (July in English)

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[ENG] The Setswana name for July is Phukwi. The seventh month of the Gregorian Calendar (July/Phukwi) is also the eleventh month of the traditional Tswana lunar calendar, whose year starts with the onset on the ploughing season in August/September (Lwetse). In fact, it gets more complicated than that, since because the 12-month lunar year inevitably falls out of alignment with the seasons, and therefore the beginning of the planting season will not occur at exactly the same time each solar…

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