Talk:OThongathi

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Strychnos mackenii and the Zulu name of Tongaat[edit]

The article claimed that the name Tongaat came from the Zulu word for the Strychnos mackenii trees that flourish on the banks of the Tongaat River. I can't find a reference to this species in either Elsa Pooley's Complete Field Guide to the Trees of Natal or in Keith Coates Palgrave's Trees of Southern Africa, so I have removed the claim as I can't find any substantiation for it.

Jstor's article [1] on Strychnos gerrardi has Strychnos mackenii as a synonym. Pooley has the Zulu name for this sp as umGuluguhla Wayne Jayes (talk) 11:00, 13 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The Dictionary of South African Place Names says, of the Tongati River, that: "The name, derived from Zulu, is said to mean 'it is important to us' or 'you are important because of us', referring to legends involving reaction to a denigrating remark in the first instance, and to Shaka's magnanimous view of a tribe he had just made subservient to him." No mention is made of the trees. - htonl (talk) 11:32, 13 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]