South Africa Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Etymology == {{See also|List of official names of South Africa}} The name "South Africa" is derived from the country's geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation, the country was named the [[Union of South Africa]] in English and {{lang|nl|Unie van Zuid-Afrika}} in [[Dutch language|Dutch]], reflecting its origin from the unification of four British colonies. Since 1961, the long formal name in English has been the "Republic of South Africa" and {{lang|af|Republiek van Suid-Afrika}} in [[Afrikaans]]. The country has an official name in [[Languages of South Africa|12 official languages]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.concourt.org.za/index.php/constitution/the-text|title=The text|website=www.concourt.org.za}}</ref><ref>[[South African Sign Language]] is also an official language</ref> {{anchor|Mzansi}} '''Mzansi''', derived from the [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] noun {{lang|xh|uMzantsi}} meaning "south", is a [[Colloquialism|colloquial name]] for South Africa,<ref>{{cite book|editor1-first=Sarah|editor2-first=Achille|last=Livermon|first=Xavier|title=Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis|chapter=Sounds in the City|year=2008|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham|isbn=978-0-8223-8121-1|page=283|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNONyzwm420C|quote=''Mzansi'' is another black urban vernacular term popular with the youth and standing for South Africa.|editor-last=Nuttall|editor2-last=Mbembé|access-date=5 January 2016|archive-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502074447/https://books.google.com/books?id=hNONyzwm420C|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Mzansi DiToloki|url=http://www.deafsa.co.za/mzansi_ditoloki/|publisher=Deaf Federation of South Africa|access-date=15 January 2014|quote=uMzantsi in Xhosa means 'south', Mzansi means this country, South Africa|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116135926/http://www.deafsa.co.za/mzansi_ditoloki/|archive-date=16 January 2014 }}</ref> while some [[Pan-Africanism|Pan-Africanist]] political parties prefer the term "[[Azania]]".<ref name="Azania">{{Cite news|url=http://www.voanews.com/content/south-african-party-says-call-it-azania/1855679.html|title=South African Party Says Call Their Country 'Azania'|last=Taylor|first=Darren|newspaper=VOA|access-date=18 February 2017|language=en|archive-date=24 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624200956/http://www.voanews.com/content/south-african-party-says-call-it-azania/1855679.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page