"Upper Volta" meaning in English

See Upper Volta in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Upper Volta.wav [Southern-England] Forms: Upper Volta [canonical], the Upper Volta [canonical]
Etymology: Calque of French Haute-Volta, from haute (“high; upper”) + Volta (“the Volta, a river in West Africa”), from Portuguese Volta. Etymology templates: {{calque|en|fr|Haute-Volta}} Calque of French Haute-Volta, {{der|en|pt|Volta}} Portuguese Volta Head templates: {{en-proper noun|def=~|head=Upper Volta}} Upper Volta or the Upper Volta
  1. A territory now coextensive with Burkina Faso.
    Sense id: en-Upper_Volta-en-name-JRdfRyAH Categories (other): History of Burkina Faso Disambiguation of History of Burkina Faso: 33 34 33
  2. A territory now coextensive with Burkina Faso.
    (historical) A colony of French West Africa established in 1919 in the territory occupied by present-day Burkina Faso, dissolved in 1932, revived in 1947 as a part of the French Union (with its previous boundaries), and in 1958 reconstituted as a self-governing country (sense 1.2).
    Wikidata QID: Q797440 Tags: historical Derived forms: Republic of Upper Volta, Upper Voltaic, Upper Voltan, Upper Voltese Related terms: Voltaic, Voltan
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  3. A territory now coextensive with Burkina Faso.
    Former name of Burkina Faso: a country in West Africa, used from 1958 to 1984.
    Categories (place): Countries in Africa Translations (former name of Burkina Faso): Ве́рхняя Во́льта (Vjérxnjaja Vólʹta) [feminine] (Belarusian), আপার ভোল্টা (apar bhōlṭa) (Bengali), Го́рна Во́лта (Górna Vólta) [feminine] (Bulgarian), Alt Volta [masculine] (Catalan), 上沃爾特 /上沃尔特 (Shàng Wò'ěrtè) (Chinese Mandarin), 上伏塔 (Shàng Fútǎ) [Taiwan] (Chinese Mandarin), Horní Volta [feminine] (Czech), Øvre Volta [neuter] (Danish), Opper-Volta [neuter] (Dutch), Ylä-Volta (Finnish), Haute-Volta [feminine] (French), Obervolta [neuter] (German), Άνω Βόλτα (Áno Vólta) [feminine, neuter] (Greek), अपर वोल्टा (apar volṭā) [masculine] (Hindi), Felső-Volta (Hungarian), Volta Hulu (Indonesian), Volta Uachtarach (Irish), Alto Volta [masculine] (Italian), オートボルタ (Ōto-Boruta) (Japanese), オートヴォルタ (Ōto-Voruta) (Japanese), 오트볼타 (Oteubolta) (Korean), 상부볼따 (Sangbuboltta) [North-Korea] (Korean), Aukštutinė Volta [feminine] (Lithuanian), Го́рна Во́лта (Górna Vólta) [feminine] (Macedonian), ولتای علیا (voltâ-ye 'olyâ) (Persian), Górna Wolta [feminine] (Polish), Alto Volta [masculine] (Portuguese), Volta Superioară [feminine] (Romanian), Ве́рхняя Во́льта (Vérxnjaja Vólʹta) [feminine] (Russian), Горња Волта [Cyrillic, feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), Gornja Volta [Latin] (Serbo-Croatian), Horná Volta [feminine] (Slovak), Zgornja Volta [feminine] (Slovene), Alto Volta [masculine] (Spanish), Övre Volta [common-gender] (Swedish), Ве́рхня Во́льта (Vérxnja Vólʹta) [feminine] (Ukrainian)
    Sense id: en-Upper_Volta-en-name-x~QxCgdf Categories (other): Burkina Faso, Former names of countries, History of Burkina Faso Disambiguation of History of Burkina Faso: 33 34 33 Disambiguation of 'former name of Burkina Faso': 30 30 40
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          "text": "The book [Africa Dances] describes a comparatively small part of Africa. Mr. [Geoffrey] Gorer’s travels took him to Senegal, the Upper Volta, Dahomey, Gold Coast and Ivory Coast, and in the company of a Negro dancer, a man whom he met in Paris, he visited many tribes and observed their customs, rituals and dances.",
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          "text": "In 1903 the French chose the area as the endpoint for a railway connecting Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) to the coast, and a small town soon developed around the train station; but without a viable port, it grew slowly at first. In 1934, shortly after the completion of the rail link to the Upper Volta city of Bobo-Dioulasso, the French moved the colonial capital from nearby Bingerville to Abidjan and began building a series of bridges between the mainland and the lagoon islands.",
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          "text": "In 1898 France and Great Britain reached an accord, granting France dominion over Upper Volta. The territory was initially designated a military zone, but in 1904 it became part of the colony Haut-Sénégal-Niger, administered from Bamako. […] The first quarter of the twentieth century was a period of extreme hardship for the peoples of Upper Volta. Although the French officially ended slavery in 1901, tens of thousands of Voltaics were forced each year to albor in cotton fields and construction sites, while others were conscripted into the military.",
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          "text": "New Zealand goes by only by its geographic name, the same is the case of Burkina Faso, Upper Volta (the geographic name) - its political name used to be the Republic of Upper Volta. Some countries do not have political names.",
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          "text": "Broadcasting, or long-distance transmission, is accomplished by means of drums, the messages being relayed over tremendous distances with great rapidity. By “drum talk,” as it is sometimes called, news of the approaching visit of American notables to Marshal Lyautey in Morocco was learned on the Upper Volta about three hours after it was published in Paris.",
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          "text": "In 1919 the French made Upper Volta a separate colony in order to better control its people and develop its economy. […] By 1931 Upper Volta was not only famine-stricken but also bankrupt, and in September 1932 the country was dismantled and divided up among neighboring French colonies.",
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          "text": "The Mossi won out, and the law recreating the Upper Volta colony was passed in the French National Assembly on 4 September 1947. The new country elected three deputies to the assembly for the first time the following year, brnging African membership to 16 seats.",
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          "text": "THE most important book in the field, however, appeared in 1943. One of the first attempts at religious sociology, it was provocatively entitled, “France, Pays de Mission?” (“France: Mission Country?”). Its authors, two young abbés, Henri Godin and Yves Daniel, argued effectively that France, traditionally “the eldest daughter of the church,” should be regarded as a mission territory, as ready for evangelization as the Upper Volta.",
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          "ref": "1979 January 4, Roslyn Siegel, “Traditional Art From Upper Volta”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Across the street from the United Nations, at 833 United Nations Plaza, the Institute is devoted to providing information about Africa. The present exhibition, through March 24, features traditional wood and metal sculpture from the Upper Volta.",
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          "ref": "1984 October 28, Michael Brenson, “Gallery View: Discovering the Heart of Modernism”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2012:",
          "text": "If we do not have the means to explain the profound but coincidental “affinity” between Max Ernst’s “Bird-Head” and the mask from the Upper Volta, then to what degree can a science of art history enter the deepest levels of human influence and communication?",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
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          "ref": "1986 January 23, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Smoke Screen”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 1, episode 3, spoken by Richard Wharton and w: Bernard Woolley (Donald Pickering and Derek Fowlds):",
          "text": "Richard Wharton: Where is the Upper Volta? / Bernard Woolley: Emm...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              150,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1990 February 1, William D. Montalbano, “Reporter’s Notebook: From Icy Fiords to African Towns, Life Is an Open Road for the Pope”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2026:",
          "text": "It is customary for John Paul to kiss the ground when he first sets foot in a country, and he doesn’t do so on subsequent visits. In 1980, he visited Upper Volta, and in keeping with custom he kissed the ground. Since then, a new government has changed the country’s name to Burkina Faso.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
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          ],
          "ref": "2006 June 4, “Togo”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Sep 2014:",
          "text": "The German has been around the managerial block so many times that some of the countries he has managed no longer exist. He has had spells with Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Zaire (now DR Congo), Ghana, Bangladesh and Rwanda.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A territory now coextensive with Burkina Faso.",
        "Former name of Burkina Faso: a country in West Africa, used from 1958 to 1984."
      ],
      "id": "en-Upper_Volta-en-name-x~QxCgdf",
      "links": [
        [
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          "Burkina Faso",
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          "Burkina Faso",
          "Burkina Faso#English"
        ],
        [
          "country",
          "country"
        ],
        [
          "West Africa",
          "West Africa#English"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "be",
          "lang": "Belarusian",
          "lang_code": "be",
          "roman": "Vjérxnjaja Vólʹta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Ве́рхняя Во́льта"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "bn",
          "lang": "Bengali",
          "lang_code": "bn",
          "roman": "apar bhōlṭa",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "আপার ভোল্টা"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "lang_code": "bg",
          "roman": "Górna Vólta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Го́рна Во́лта"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "lang_code": "ca",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Alt Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "Shàng Wò'ěrtè",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "上沃爾特 /上沃尔特"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "Shàng Fútǎ",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "Taiwan"
          ],
          "word": "上伏塔"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "lang_code": "cs",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Horní Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "lang_code": "da",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Øvre Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "lang_code": "nl",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Opper-Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "Ylä-Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Haute-Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Obervolta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "lang_code": "el",
          "roman": "Áno Vólta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Άνω Βόλτα"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "hi",
          "lang": "Hindi",
          "lang_code": "hi",
          "roman": "apar volṭā",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "अपर वोल्टा"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "Felső-Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "id",
          "lang": "Indonesian",
          "lang_code": "id",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "Volta Hulu"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "lang_code": "ga",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "Volta Uachtarach"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Alto Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "lang_code": "ja",
          "roman": "Ōto-Boruta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "オートボルタ"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "lang_code": "ja",
          "roman": "Ōto-Voruta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "オートヴォルタ"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "lang_code": "ko",
          "roman": "Oteubolta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "오트볼타"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "lang_code": "ko",
          "roman": "Sangbuboltta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "North-Korea"
          ],
          "word": "상부볼따"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "lt",
          "lang": "Lithuanian",
          "lang_code": "lt",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Aukštutinė Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "lang_code": "mk",
          "roman": "Górna Vólta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Го́рна Во́лта"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "fa",
          "lang": "Persian",
          "lang_code": "fa",
          "roman": "voltâ-ye 'olyâ",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "word": "ولتای علیا"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Górna Wolta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Alto Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "lang_code": "ro",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Volta Superioară"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "Vérxnjaja Vólʹta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Ве́рхняя Во́льта"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "lang_code": "sh",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "Cyrillic",
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Горња Волта"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "lang_code": "sh",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "Latin"
          ],
          "word": "Gornja Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "sk",
          "lang": "Slovak",
          "lang_code": "sk",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Horná Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "sl",
          "lang": "Slovene",
          "lang_code": "sl",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Zgornja Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Alto Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "Övre Volta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 30 40",
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "lang_code": "uk",
          "roman": "Vérxnja Vólʹta",
          "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Ве́рхня Во́льта"
        }
      ]
    }
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    "Terms with Dutch translations",
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    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Greek translations",
    "Terms with Hindi translations",
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    "Terms with Irish translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Japanese translations",
    "Terms with Korean translations",
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    "Terms with Macedonian translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Persian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Romanian translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
    "Terms with Slovak translations",
    "Terms with Slovene translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations",
    "Terms with Ukrainian translations",
    "en:History of Burkina Faso"
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    {
      "word": "Republic of Upper Volta"
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      "word": "Upper Voltaic"
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  "etymology_text": "Calque of French Haute-Volta, from haute (“high; upper”) + Volta (“the Volta, a river in West Africa”), from Portuguese Volta.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Upper Volta",
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      "word": "Voltaic"
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          "ref": "1935 November 24, Edward Frank Allen, “The Africa That Dances for Strangers […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "The book [Africa Dances] describes a comparatively small part of Africa. Mr. [Geoffrey] Gorer’s travels took him to Senegal, the Upper Volta, Dahomey, Gold Coast and Ivory Coast, and in the company of a Negro dancer, a man whom he met in Paris, he visited many tribes and observed their customs, rituals and dances.",
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          "ref": "1999, Elizabeth Heath, “Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire”, in Kwame Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., editors, Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, New York, N.Y.: Basic Civitas Books, →ISBN, pages 4–5:",
          "text": "In 1903 the French chose the area as the endpoint for a railway connecting Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) to the coast, and a small town soon developed around the train station; but without a viable port, it grew slowly at first. In 1934, shortly after the completion of the rail link to the Upper Volta city of Bobo-Dioulasso, the French moved the colonial capital from nearby Bingerville to Abidjan and began building a series of bridges between the mainland and the lagoon islands.",
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          "ref": "1999, Roanne Edwards, Susanne Freidberg, “Burkina Faso”, in Kwame Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., editors, Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, New York, N.Y.: Basic Civitas Books, →ISBN, page 332, column 2:",
          "text": "In 1898 France and Great Britain reached an accord, granting France dominion over Upper Volta. The territory was initially designated a military zone, but in 1904 it became part of the colony Haut-Sénégal-Niger, administered from Bamako. […] The first quarter of the twentieth century was a period of extreme hardship for the peoples of Upper Volta. Although the French officially ended slavery in 1901, tens of thousands of Voltaics were forced each year to albor in cotton fields and construction sites, while others were conscripted into the military.",
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          "ref": "2016 April 25, James Fallows, “Team Czechia Makes Its Case”, in The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Jun 2022:",
          "text": "New Zealand goes by only by its geographic name, the same is the case of Burkina Faso, Upper Volta (the geographic name) - its political name used to be the Republic of Upper Volta. Some countries do not have political names.",
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      ],
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      ],
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          "ref": "1923 April 7, “Drum Propaganda Stirs Up Africans […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Broadcasting, or long-distance transmission, is accomplished by means of drums, the messages being relayed over tremendous distances with great rapidity. By “drum talk,” as it is sometimes called, news of the approaching visit of American notables to Marshal Lyautey in Morocco was learned on the Upper Volta about three hours after it was published in Paris.",
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          "ref": "1999, Roanne Edwards, Susanne Freidberg, “Burkina Faso”, in Kwame Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., editors, Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, New York, N.Y.: Basic Civitas Books, →ISBN, page 332, column 3:",
          "text": "In 1919 the French made Upper Volta a separate colony in order to better control its people and develop its economy. […] By 1931 Upper Volta was not only famine-stricken but also bankrupt, and in September 1932 the country was dismantled and divided up among neighboring French colonies.",
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          "ref": "2006 May, Katrina Manson, James Knight, “History”, in Burkina Faso: The Bradt Travel Guide, Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire: Bradt Travel Guides; Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press, published May 2008, part 1 (General Information), chapter 1 (Background Information), page 25:",
          "text": "The Mossi won out, and the law recreating the Upper Volta colony was passed in the French National Assembly on 4 September 1947. The new country elected three deputies to the assembly for the first time the following year, brnging African membership to 16 seats.",
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      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Burkina Faso",
        "en:Countries in Africa",
        "en:Former names of countries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              15
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1958 December 12, “New Republic Formed: Upper Volta Decides Status in the French Community”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "The Upper Volta was the eleventh former territory of seventeen that approved the new French Constitution to set itself up as a republic.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              423,
              434
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1965 December 26, John Cogley, “They Are Priests and Workers, Both […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "THE most important book in the field, however, appeared in 1943. One of the first attempts at religious sociology, it was provocatively entitled, “France, Pays de Mission?” (“France: Mission Country?”). Its authors, two young abbés, Henri Godin and Yves Daniel, argued effectively that France, traditionally “the eldest daughter of the church,” should be regarded as a mission territory, as ready for evangelization as the Upper Volta.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              233,
              244
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1979 January 4, Roslyn Siegel, “Traditional Art From Upper Volta”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Across the street from the United Nations, at 833 United Nations Plaza, the Institute is devoted to providing information about Africa. The present exhibition, through March 24, features traditional wood and metal sculpture from the Upper Volta.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              134,
              145
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1984 October 28, Michael Brenson, “Gallery View: Discovering the Heart of Modernism”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2012:",
          "text": "If we do not have the means to explain the profound but coincidental “affinity” between Max Ernst’s “Bird-Head” and the mask from the Upper Volta, then to what degree can a science of art history enter the deepest levels of human influence and communication?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              30,
              41
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1986 January 23, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Smoke Screen”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 1, episode 3, spoken by Richard Wharton and w: Bernard Woolley (Donald Pickering and Derek Fowlds):",
          "text": "Richard Wharton: Where is the Upper Volta? / Bernard Woolley: Emm...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              150,
              161
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1990 February 1, William D. Montalbano, “Reporter’s Notebook: From Icy Fiords to African Towns, Life Is an Open Road for the Pope”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2026:",
          "text": "It is customary for John Paul to kiss the ground when he first sets foot in a country, and he doesn’t do so on subsequent visits. In 1980, he visited Upper Volta, and in keeping with custom he kissed the ground. Since then, a new government has changed the country’s name to Burkina Faso.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              144,
              155
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006 June 4, “Togo”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Sep 2014:",
          "text": "The German has been around the managerial block so many times that some of the countries he has managed no longer exist. He has had spells with Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Zaire (now DR Congo), Ghana, Bangladesh and Rwanda.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A territory now coextensive with Burkina Faso.",
        "Former name of Burkina Faso: a country in West Africa, used from 1958 to 1984."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "territory",
          "territory"
        ],
        [
          "coextensive",
          "coextensive"
        ],
        [
          "Burkina Faso",
          "Burkina Faso"
        ],
        [
          "Burkina Faso",
          "Burkina Faso#English"
        ],
        [
          "country",
          "country"
        ],
        [
          "West Africa",
          "West Africa#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Upper Volta.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/27/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-Upper_Volta.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-Upper_Volta.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/27/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-Upper_Volta.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-Upper_Volta.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "be",
      "lang": "Belarusian",
      "lang_code": "be",
      "roman": "Vjérxnjaja Vólʹta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Ве́рхняя Во́льта"
    },
    {
      "code": "bn",
      "lang": "Bengali",
      "lang_code": "bn",
      "roman": "apar bhōlṭa",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "আপার ভোল্টা"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "lang_code": "bg",
      "roman": "Górna Vólta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Го́рна Во́лта"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "lang_code": "ca",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Alt Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "Shàng Wò'ěrtè",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "上沃爾特 /上沃尔特"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "Shàng Fútǎ",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "Taiwan"
      ],
      "word": "上伏塔"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "lang_code": "cs",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Horní Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "lang_code": "da",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Øvre Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "lang_code": "nl",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Opper-Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "Ylä-Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Haute-Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Obervolta"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "lang_code": "el",
      "roman": "Áno Vólta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Άνω Βόλτα"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "lang_code": "hi",
      "roman": "apar volṭā",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "अपर वोल्टा"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "Felső-Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "id",
      "lang": "Indonesian",
      "lang_code": "id",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "Volta Hulu"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "lang_code": "ga",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "Volta Uachtarach"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Alto Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "lang_code": "ja",
      "roman": "Ōto-Boruta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "オートボルタ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "lang_code": "ja",
      "roman": "Ōto-Voruta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "オートヴォルタ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "lang_code": "ko",
      "roman": "Oteubolta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "오트볼타"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "lang_code": "ko",
      "roman": "Sangbuboltta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "North-Korea"
      ],
      "word": "상부볼따"
    },
    {
      "code": "lt",
      "lang": "Lithuanian",
      "lang_code": "lt",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Aukštutinė Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "lang_code": "mk",
      "roman": "Górna Vólta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Го́рна Во́лта"
    },
    {
      "code": "fa",
      "lang": "Persian",
      "lang_code": "fa",
      "roman": "voltâ-ye 'olyâ",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "word": "ولتای علیا"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Górna Wolta"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Alto Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "lang_code": "ro",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Volta Superioară"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "Vérxnjaja Vólʹta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Ве́рхняя Во́льта"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "lang_code": "sh",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "Cyrillic",
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Горња Волта"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "lang_code": "sh",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "Latin"
      ],
      "word": "Gornja Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "sk",
      "lang": "Slovak",
      "lang_code": "sk",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Horná Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "sl",
      "lang": "Slovene",
      "lang_code": "sl",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Zgornja Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Alto Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "Övre Volta"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "lang_code": "uk",
      "roman": "Vérxnja Vólʹta",
      "sense": "former name of Burkina Faso",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Ве́рхня Во́льта"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Upper Volta"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Upper Volta meaning in English (18.2kB)

{
  "called_from": "page/1498/20230118",
  "msg": "''A territory now coextensive wi'[...]' gloss has examples we want to keep, but there are subglosses.",
  "path": [
    "Upper Volta"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "proper noun",
  "title": "Upper Volta",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (872fc7b and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.