Things ewe never kn?ewe about South African place names
Historians and local inhabitants may sometimes disagree as to the origins of certain place names. \r\n\ This has arisen partly because various groups of people gave different names to the same place, or because the meaning changed through mistranslations, variations in spelling sometimes occurred, because people at the time were often only barely literate if literate at all, or place names were, over time, condensed into one word, which could change the original meaning considerably. \r\n\ Take, for example, Titus se Baai (?Titus?s Bay?), which became Tietiesbaai (?Breasts Bay? or, as I prefer, ?Boob Bay?) ? a fairly extreme case. Or Goodhouse, which has nothing to do with being a home of, say, missionaries; rather it?s from Gudaos, Khoikhoi for ?Sheep Ford?, indicating a good place to cross the river. Early travellers to the area attempted to imitate the sound of the name they heard and Goodhouse was the result ? nothing to do with a home of good repute! In time, fiction becomes fact and only considerable delving lets an older truth emerge.\r\n However, a book merely listing these origins may be interesting to some, but others could find it to be the best-selling answer to insomnia. As a result, I have sifted through the numerous names that make up South Africa, to find the quirky, the unexpected and the occasionally bizarre origins, which will hopefully be more entertaining.
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UPC | 9781770266483 |
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Author | Ann Gadd |
Pages | 224 |
Language | English |
Format | |
Publisher | MapStudio |
SKU | 9781770266483 |
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