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Elisabethville

Elisabethville

9.9
Former name of Lubumbashi, a copper mining city in southeastern DR Congo near the Zambian border
  • proper noun
  • Literature
: Elisabethville
  • In the early 1960s, Elisabethville was a bustling center for copper mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Examples

  • The city of Elisabethville, now called Lubumbashi, was key for trade across the Zambian border.

  • Tshombe was also a businessman, a capitalist in Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi) who opted to work in close cooperation with Western capitalists.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Elisabethville, formerly known as Lubumbashi, played a crucial role in the region's economy due to its rich mineral resources.

Synonyms

Lubumbashi
vsElisabethville
1 8.3

A city in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo near the border with Zambia known for copper mining

is the former name used until 1966 for that same city

Surface Forms

Morphology

Elisabethville = Elisabeth + ville (semi-transparent) = Elisabeth + ville

The structure 'Elisabeth' + 'ville' clearly indicates a place named after Elisabeth, but the suffix '-ville' may not be obvious to all learners and is a borrowed place-name element.

Etymology

Elisabethville comes from the name Elisabeth plus the French ending -ville, which means 'town'. It was named for Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, so it meant 'Elisabeth's town' and was the former name of Lubumbashi.