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Category: Etymologies

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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