LokaNova et Freelang

but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is a fictitious word created just to claim the title of longest.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu or Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the Maori (language) placename on an otherwise unremarkable hill which is 305 metres high, near Mangaorapa and close to Porangahau, south of Waipukurau, between Hastings and Dannevirke, in southern Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. The placename is often shortened to Taumata by the locals for ease of conversation.

The placename on the sign that marks this hill is spelt as Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu which roughly translates into English as The brow [or summit] of the hill [or place], where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid [down], climbed [up] and swallowed mountains, [to travel the land], [who is] known as the Land Eater, played [on] his [nose] flute to his loved one. At 85 letters, it is one of the longest placenames in the world. There are several alternative translations and variants in spelling.

It has also been spelled as: Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu, which is 92 letters, and has been entered into the Guinness Book of Records as such.

The shorter form of the name was used in a song written and performed by New Zealand musician Peter Cape (1926-1979). The longer version of the name is apparently more recent, or perhaps more formal. There are claims that the longer name, which is now shown on a sign, has been in use all along, by the local Maori. The Welsh argue that the longer name has been contrived to be longer than Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which some others argue was contrived to be the longest British place name in the first place.

The name was also chanted as part of a UK pop hit (unrelated to the Peter Cape song) called the Lone Ranger, by Quantum Jump, in 1979. On the record, the chant was made to sound vaguely Native American in tone, in keeping with the track's Lone Ranger storyline. Kenny Everett also sampled Quantum Jump's chant of the name for his ITV Video Show series.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (St Mary's Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near a Rapid Whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near the Red Cave) is a village on the island of Anglesey, in Wales is the longest official placename in the United Kingdom and the third-longest in the world. For most purposes, however, the name is abbreviated to Llanfair PG (or Llanfairpwll among Welsh speakers) which is sufficient to distinguish it from other Welsh places named Llanfair. It is a popular tourist destination, many people stopping at the railway station to have their photos taken next to the station sign, visiting the nearby Visitors' Centre or having their passports stamped at a local shop. Another tourist attraction is the nearby Marquis of Anglesey's Column, giving views over Anglesey and the Menai Straits.

The name was contrived in the 1860s by the village council, specifically for the privilege and prestige of having "the longest name of a railway station in Great Britain". It could not be considered an authentic word from Welsh. In fact, the original name of the place was Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, which itself is respectably long (though only having 17 letters in the Welsh alphabet as opposed to 20 in English).

A reasonable attempt at a pronunciation would be Clan vire pulth gwinn gith gor gerrick win drob uth clan tay see lee oh go go gogch. (The "gch" in the final syllable is the "glottal h" sound, similar to the sound used in the Yiddish "l'chaim". Saying gok glottally produces more or less the same effect.) Two lls can be pronounced either as 'cl' or 'l', or more precisely as an 'l', while passing air around the tongue (try blowing while saying "l").

There have been several unofficial attempts to steal Llanfair PG's record - for promotional (Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddoll npenrhynareurdraethceredigion) or protest (Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole) reasons, but none of these "new names" have yet won the widespread recognition gained by by Llanfair PG among key official bodies and transport authorities (though in practice the shorter form tends to be used on a day-to-day basis).

The name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is also used as a password in the movie version of Barbarella.

Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
Perhaps this should be moved to the Nipmuck language wikipedia. I see no evidence that this name has been accepted by the Bureau of Geographical Names at the USGS. It appears to have been developed for publicity purposes, and it is difficult too take it seriously. Eclecticology 20:20 Dec 17, 2002 (UTC) I recommend we leave it: it isn't our job to judge whether the folks of Webster are entitled to use the Indian name. If the Indian name is itself some sort of hoax, that would be very well worth adding. And if there is some sort of question about the "official name" of the lake, that can be added to the article as well--but I don't know what rules are standard among geographers for judging the legitimacy of a place name. --Len May I recommend moving it to a hyphenated title, just so as not to screw the formatting, as has been done for Llanfair PG?

How do you get "Englishmen" from "Chargogg", or is it vice versa? -phma

Best authority I can find indicates that the word means "knifemen", which was either a designation of Englishmen generally or else a reference to the mill built near the Manchaug village by Samuel Slater. This could stand more confirmation, and I'm not certain why the etymology is considered so debatable since there are surviving Nipmucks in the area. Based on this information, I would conjecture that the most literal translation of "chargogg-agogg-manchaug-agogg" would be "knife-men-manchaug-men", meaning "Englishmen living near the Manchaugs". --Len

Note that this literal translation is purely conjectural, even if I'm pretty pleased with it. Partial support for the theory that "agogg" denotes men is the origin of the name of the Manchaug tribe: it was "Monuhchogok", where the "ogok" can be conjectured to also mean "people" (on the fairly slender basis that many tribal nations named themselves "humans" and named everyone else by some sort of pejorative). I'm very interested for more detailed information on the etymology here. --Len.

If it helps any, Nipmuc is a dialect of Algonquin which is extremely close to Massachusett. So anyone with knowledge of any Algonquin language, be it Naragansett, Ottawa, Abenaki, or any of a few dozen others, can probably comment intelligently on this point.

Bloodbrother wrote: J'ai trouvé un lien avec les mots les plus longs dans certaines langues :http://villemin.gerard.free.fr/Langue/Motlong.htm

Netrunner wrote:Une autre proposition :"éternité"
Je vois rien de plus long