What is the correct Spelling for Isandlwana

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

I browsed the RDVC website, where they were discussing the correct spelling of (Isandlwana) There seems to be various ways of spelling the word. Anyone here know for sure what it is.

Subject: corrct spelling Thu Apr 30, 2009 2:10 am

hi 24th, as far as i am aware it is, or should be spelt ISANDLWANA. cheers 90th.

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

Hi 90th
Yes thats what I thought. But if anyone knows better, let me know.

hi 24th,, on entering the battlefield site you will see the spelling as ISANDLWANA, this shows the correct spelling, you would think they will have it right, after all it is their country. :lol!: with reference to the multiple spellings used by british troops they didnt have proper maps, google earth, or any knowledge of the place names. so i would imagine slang took over. as ever 90th.

Posts : 1095 Join date : 2009-01-14 Location : East London

On the Famous painting By Charles Edwin Fripp Artist 1854 to 1906

its spelled (Isandhlwana)

Richard Thomas Moynan Painting.

THE LAST OF THE 24TH, ISANDULA 1879

Subject: correct spelling reply Fri May 01, 2009 1:29 am

hi oldhistorian2.

i have read somewhere that isandlwana in the time of FRIPPS painting was indeed spelt ISANDLHWANA but has since been changed, the painting is circa 1880?. as for the other spelling SANDULA, it seemed to be a favourite term used by the officers and others, im sure it is their own term (slang). as it is a lot easier to say and spell. i have read this somewhere before but dont know where. i think it was an article by IAN KNIGHT, if anybody would know it is him. cheers 90th

Posts : 2558 Join date : 2009-04-06 Age : 60 Location : UK

Some of the officers statements concerning The loss at Isandlwana, have spelled it with the (h)
But like 90th pointed out they had their own ways of spelling (isandlwana) Whats to say we have the right spelling.

iSandlwana is the local kwaZulu spelling, or so i read somewhere on the forum many months ago, posted by a native speaker of the local language. That does for me.

The Zulu language, isiZulu, operates a noun class prefix system so, technically, the correct spelling is 'iSandlwana' (the lower case 'i' being the appropriate prefix in this case). In some cases I have seen the prefix dropped in written translation leaving, simply, 'Sandlwana'.

Thanks to Umbiki for the above information re: iSandlwana

Posts : 190 Join date : 2011-03-16 Age : 55

When i visited there and Rorkes drift a few years back, i picked up some postcards, it says on the front ISANDLWANA on the back of the card it says KWAZULU MONUMENTS COUNCIL, i must add it was a very eerie place to visit knowing what happened there. Salute

Posts : 947 Join date : 2011-10-21 Location : Algoa Bay

Hi Towerboy

H. C. Lugg one of the foremost Zulu llinguists of his time says this about Isandlwana ;

eSandlwana, a diminutive form of isandlu, the second stomach of a cow.
Traditon has it that hill was the name given by Chief Sihayo Ngobese, or by one of his predecessors because its shape reminded him of that organ. Sandlwana is the diminutive of isandlu, a small hut used for the storage of grain etc. Such a structure in that part of Zululand is known as i- sandlwana .
It has nothing to do with "a small hand" which in Zulu would be spelt isandlana.
That is some of the history. All today's maps are marked Isandlwana which is currently the correct form.

regards

barry

Thanks for that Barry, I didn't know that ... 2nd stomach of a cow etc! Salute

Subject: What is the correct spelling for Isandlwana Tue Mar 13, 2012 5:47 am

Hi All .
I think it was back in 2011 we had a rather large discussion on this subject , it may be worthwhile to go back and see the earlier posts if your still interested .
cheers 90th. Salute

the written form of isiZulu is still developing. It used to be Isandhlwana but changed to Isandlwana in the late 1960s / early 1970s. The late George Buntting and SB Bourquin (both of whom were fluent Zulu linguists) claimed that the meaning was 'The second stomach of a ruminant', which it is said to resemble. Some people claimed that it translated as 'The Little Hand' but then it would have been Isandlawana. David Rattray preferred 'the little storage hut' but local people will still tell you that it resembles the second stomach of a ruminant, so coupled to the translation by two eminent historians and Zulu linguists, I stick to 'The second stomach of a ruminant' (which, as someone has pointed out, includes a cow). Regards, Ken

Posts : 747 Join date : 2009-10-18

"The meaning of Isandhlwana, or more correctly Tsandhlwane, is
neither ‘ little hand/ nor ‘ little house/ nor any other of the hundred and
one interpretations which were devised at the time of the disaster, but
refers to a portion of bovine intestinal anatomy. The spelling of the
word which I shall observe throughout these pages will be that which is
now universally employed, though ‘ Isandhlwautf * is the more correct.
The pi-onunciation of the word is exactly according to its orthography,
evory letter being distinctly sounded."

Source. Mitford.

Posts : 1604 Join date : 2009-09-21

Never seen these spellings of Isandlwans before. Thanks for posting

Tsandhlwane?
Isandhlwautf.

There we have it!

Posts : 1604 Join date : 2009-09-21

Perhaps we should all start using "Isandhlwautf" from now on. After all this is the correct spelling. I'm sure Ken would agree. Salute

That will be the day!

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