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

2025-10-04 TRK Comments 0 Comment

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 – Molepolole

2025-01-20 TRK

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

2024-12-26 TRK Comments 0 Comment

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

2024-11-17 TRK Comments 0 Comment

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

2024-10-24 TRK Comments 0 Comment

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)

2024-08-04 TRK Comments 0 Comment

[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)

2024-07-09 TRK Comments 0 Comment

[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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Losika (Family and Familial Titles)

2024-06-20 TRK Comments 0 Comment

Names and Titles of Family Members and Relatives in Setswana Let’s start with the curious fact is that although there are some direct mappings between English and Setswana titles, there are those that do not have equivalents in the other language. The word cousin, for instance is one interesting concept, which has a lengthy Wikipedia page to itself, explaining (among others) how technically, you are in fact your own uncle’s and grandmother’s cousin, does not have a direct equivalent in Setswana. On…

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Seetebosigo (June in Setswana)

2024-06-04 TRK Comments 0 Comment

[ENG] The Setswana name for June is Seetebosigo. Although Seetebosigo [June] has been designated as the sixth month of the Gregorian Calendar in Setswana, it is actually the tenth month of the traditional Setswana lunar calendar, whose year starts with the onset on the ploughing season in 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…

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Motsheganong [May in Setswana]

2024-05-02 TRK Comments 0 Comment

[ENG] The Setswana name for May is Motsheganong. Although it is the fifth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar Motsheganong (May) is in fact the ninth month of the traditional Tswana lunisolar calendar, whose year starts with the onset on the agricultural season in August/September (Lwetse). However, this is not as clear-cut as my introduction above makes it seem. Traditional Southern African calendars were based on the moon cycle, as well as annual seasonal rotations. This tended to create complications as…

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