Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein

Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein is a farm in the North West province of South Africa, located about 200 km west of Pretoria and 20 km east of Lichtenburg[1] whose 44-character name has entered South African folklore. It is the longest place name in South Africa,[2] and one of the longest anywhere in the world.

The name, which follows a common format for Afrikaans-language place names in South Africa, means "the spring where two buffaloes were killed with a single shot" (Afrikaans: Twee buffels met een skoot morsdood geskiet fontein). The literal translation is "Twee buffels" = "Two buffaloes", "met een skoot" = "with one shot"; "morsdood" = "stone dead"; "geskiet" = "shot"; "fontein" = "spring (river source)" or "fountain". This name illustrates the compounding nature of Germanic languages including Afrikaans, itself derived from Dutch.[3] All the descriptive terms relating to one concept can generally be tied together into one long word. Another example of this would be wildewaatlemoenkonfytkompetisiebeoordelaarshandleiding, which translates to "wild watermelon jam competition judge's manual". Such use is, however, not common, and such words are often separated using one or more hyphens if they become too long or unwieldy.

The farm was originally granted to A.P. de Nysschen in 1866 by the government of the South African Republic; it is referred to in the survey diagram as "Twee Buffels Geschiet" (Two buffaloes shot) and shown as having an area of 6119 morgen and 429 square roods (5241.7 hectares).[4] Official maps published by National Geo-spatial Information refer to it as "Tweebuffels" (Two buffaloes).[5]

The name was used as the title for an Afrikaans-language song co-written by Anton Goosen and Fanus Rautenbach[6][7] and performed by Goosen. It has also been used in advertising to signify the typical small rural town.

See also

References
  1. "Tweebuffels". Geocodes. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  2. Euston-Brown, Kim; et al. (2004). New Africa Social Science. Claremont, South Africa: New Africa Books. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-86928-282-0.
  3. "Professor AM de Lange". Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  4. "Survey diagram A1695/1914". 19 October 1914. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  5. 2626AB GaRamodingwana (Map) (3rd ed.). 1:50,000. South Africa Topographic. National Geo-spatial Information. 2006.
  6. "Tweebuffels-song". Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  7. Jan de Koning. "33 Sea-Sides (Om Te Rock 'n Roll)". iAfrica.com. Retrieved 6 December 2011.

Further reading
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