My Country, My Pride, My Zimbabwe!

The origin of the word Zimbabwe is not known, but there are two schools of thought. It could be short form for "ziimba remabwe", a Shona / chiKaranga term, which means "the great or big house built of stones". The Karanga language was said by ancient Portuguese missionaries to be the language of the Munhumutapa’s court.


A second theory is that Zimbabwe is a contracted form of "dzimba woye" which means "venerated houses," a term usually reserved for chiefs' houses or graves.