is a

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

in the

North West province North West ( ; ) is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre and province of Gauteng and south of Botswana. History North West was incorporated after the end of ...

of South Africa that is noted for its unusually long place name of 44 characters—the longest in South Africa and possibly fourth-longest in the world. Located in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality of the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, some east of the town of Lichtenburg and west of

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, the name in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

means "the spring where two buffaloes were shot stone-dead with one shot" (). Originally granted to A.P. de Nysschen on 24 April 1866 by the government of the

South African Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republics, Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result ...

, is also sometimes known by the shortenings (Two buffaloes) and (Two buffaloes shot).

Name

The name in

means "the spring where two buffaloes were shot stone-dead with one shot" (). 44 characters long, it is the longest

place name Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

in South Africa and possibly fourth-longest in the world. The literal translation is "''Twee buffels''" = "Two buffaloes", "''met een skoot''" = "with one shot"; "" = "stone dead"; "" = "shot"; "" = "spring (river source)" or "fountain". For brevity, it is sometimes known by the shortenings (Two buffaloes) and (Two buffaloes shot). The name follows a common format for Afrikaans-language

place names Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

in South Africa, and illustrates the

compounding In the field of pharmacy, compounding (performed in compounding pharmacies) is preparation of custom medications to fit unique needs of patients that cannot be met with mass-produced formulations. This may be done, for example, to provide medic ...

nature of

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...

including Afrikaans, itself derived from Dutch. All the descriptive terms relating to one concept can generally be tied together into one long word. Another example of this would be ', which means "education leadership development project." Such use is, however, not common, and such words are often separated using one or more hyphens if they become too long or unwieldy.

Farm

The farm consists of a

farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a men's social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 34 active chapters in the United States and Canada.FarmHouse Fraternity New Memb ...

and

ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

, and is located in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality of the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality,

of South Africa some east of the town of Lichtenburg and west of

History

The farm was originally granted to A.P. de Nysschen on 24 April 1866 by the government of the

. It is referred to in a 1914 survey diagram as "" (Two buffaloes shot) and shown as having an area of 6,119 morgen and 429 square roods (5241.7 hectares). Records from British concentration camps during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

records five residents of in 1901. In 1985, was the subject of an Afrikaans-language song written by and performed by Anton Goosen. Rautenbach had originally written the song in 1978, and it tells of the supposed hunter Gysie Grootlief who volunteers to shoot a giant buffalo with twelve-foot wide horns terrorising the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Sannaspos.

References

{{Authority control 1866 establishments in South Africa Farms in South Africa Economy of North West (South African province) Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality

Name

Farm

History

See also

References