Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein 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 ...

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 of Gauteng and south of Botswana. History North West was incorporated after the end of Apartheid in 1994, an ...

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 Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality (formerly Central District Municipality) is one of the four districts of North West province in South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng, which is also the capital of the province. Geography Neighbours Ngaka ...

, some east of the town of Lichtenburg and west of

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

, the name in

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

means "the spring where two buffaloes were shot stone-dead with one shot" ( af, Twee buffels met een skoot morsdood geskiet fontein, links=no). Originally granted to A.P. de Nysschen on 24 April 1866 by the government of the

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it ...

, Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein 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" ( af, Twee buffels met een skoot morsdood geskiet fontein, links=no). 44 characters long, it is the longest

place name Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Often ...

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 name of ...

in South Africa, and illustrates the

compounding In the field of pharmacy, compounding (performed in compounding pharmacies) is preparation of a custom formulation of a medication to fit a unique need of a patient that cannot be met with commercially available products. This may be done for me ...

nature of

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the 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 spoken Germanic language, E ...

including Afrikaans, itself derived from

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

. 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 and

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

, and is located in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality of the

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 A morgen was a unit of measurement of land area in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania and the Dutch colonies, including South Africa and Taiwan. The size of a morgen varies from . It was also used in Old Prussia, in the Balkans, Norw ...

and 429 square roods (5241.7 hectares). Records from

British concentration camps During the Second Anglo-Boer War which lasted from 1899–1902, the British operated concentration camps in South Africa: the term "concentration camp" grew in prominence during that period. The camps had originally been set up by the British Arm ...

during the

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

records five residents of Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein in 1901. In 1985, Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein 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 tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Sannaspos.

References

{{Authority control 1866 establishments in South Africa Economy of North West (South African province) Farms in South Africa

Name

Farm

History

See also

References