Kingdom of Mapungubwe - Origins of The Name

Origins of The Name

The capital of the kingdom was called Mapungubwe, which is where the kingdom gets its name. The site of the city is now a World Heritage Site, national park, and archaeological site. However, there is controversy regarding the origin and meaning of the name, Mapungubwe. Conventional wisdom has it that Mapungubwe means “place of Jackals”, or alternatively, “place where Jackals eat” or according to Fouche’, one of the earliest excavators of Mapungubwe, “hill of the jackals” (Fouche', 1937 p. 1).

This origin is supposedly derived from the Venda word for jackal (i.e. Phunguhwe) or alternatively, the Tsonga word for the same animal (i.e. Phukubje). On the other hand, others have proposed that name means “hill or place of stones/boulders/rocks”. This later version appears a lot closer to the meaning of the word since Mapungubwe actually mean "place of boiling or simmering stones/rocks/boulders". The word is derived from the root morpheme "Pungu" (Venda language for boiling or simmering), and the suffix morpheme bwe" (Venda language for rocks/stones/boulders). Other Venda morphemes denoting rocks/boulders/stones are "he and gwe" e.g. Dzingahe (place of black boulders/rocks/stones), Mahematshena (place of white boulders/stones/rocks) and Mavhiligwe. Interestingly, the morphemes denoting rocks are common among Bantu language words, such as “we” (Kiswahili),”bye” (Tsonga), “tye” (Zulu/Xhosa), "bwe" (Karanga), and at times displaying striking phoneme variations e.g. "Mawe" (Swahili for rocks/stones/boulders) vs "Mabwe" (Karanga for rocks/stones) and "Mabje" (Tsonga for stones/rocks/boulders). Indeed, the Republic of Zimbabwe derives its name from the famous Great Zimbabwe monuments whose name is derived from the Karanga word “Dzimba dza mabwe” which means houses of stones.

Incidentally, Mapungubwe is also referred to as “Tshavhadzimu” which means “place of the gods” or a “revered place”. The Venda area is still dotted with similar Vhangona revered places such as Zwitaka (sacred groves), Zwifho (sacred places), and Zwiawelo (sacred resting places) which are as revered today as they have always been. Some examples of the Zwitaka and Zwifho can be found along the Sibasa – Wyliespoort Road (R525) (e.g. Tshitaka Tsha Mungadi or the sacred grove of Mungadi at Ngovhela village and Tshitaka Tsha Vhutanda – sacred grove of the Vhutanda) or along the Punda Maria - Louis Trichardt road (R524) (e.g. Tshitaka Tsha Khwevha - scared groove of Khwevha) while Lake Fundudzi, Guvhukuvhu la Phiphidi (Phiphidi waterfalls on the Mutshindudi river at Phiphidi and Tivha la Tshiswavhathu (pool where human remains are cremated) which is also on the Mutshindudi river at Mukula Village are just but some of the examples of the numerous Zwifho still to be found in Venda. These Zwitaka (sacred groves) respectively belong to the Nemungadi, Nevhutanda and Nekhwevha Ngona clans while the Zwifho respectively belong to the Netshiavha (Lake Fundudzi), Ramunangi (Phiphidi waterfalls) and the Mamphwe (Tivha la Tshiswavhathu) families who still practice their respectives rites at these facilities.

This reverence probably explains (as will be seen later) why the natives residing around the Mapungubwe hill area were reluctant to disclose or share with strangers (or anyone else for that matter), anything related to its whereabouts. Indeed, such reverence largely explains why Mapungubwe hill remained untouched, especially by the natives throughout all those centuries after its abandonment.