The Meaning of the word, Yoruba: A Consequence of Amnesia

by Nana Oanrawa!u
"#$%&$'%"(
)hat is in a name*
In the 1990s, Arsenal Football Club was doing great. Then Kanu Nwankwo started playing or
the! and support base in Nigeria e"ploded. #$%eryone# be&a!e an Arsenal supporter. Arsenal#s
ni&kna!e was 'unners. Nigerians started saying 'unners or lie...but they did not say 'unners, a
lot o the! still do not know it is 'unners. They said 'oners or (ie and as !ore and !ore
Nigerians &hanted 'oners or lie, Arsenal#s ortunes started alling. Fro! )The In%in&ibles*, they
be&a!e synony!ous with disappoint!ent. Arsene +enger the ,ira&le +orker be&a!e +enger the
Inuriating. Arsenal started )gonning*, )gonning*, gone....
)hat is the meaning of Yoruba* )hat anguage is it* )hat diaect*
$arly in the 19
th
&entury, -ugh Clapperton %isited what is now Nigeria, .rst ro! 1/0011/0234 and
then again in 1/05. +hen he got to 6okoto, he asked his host, 6ultan ,uha!!ed 7ello, 819/11
1/29: 6ultan 1/1911/29; what they &all their neighbour on the other side o the Niger, whose &apital
was Katunga 8<ld <yo;. -e was told they were &alled the =arriba. The !issionaries that &a!e to
lay the ground or the e%entual &olonisation o Ari&a, both Ari&an and $uropean, adopted and
&orrupted this to =oruba. As >eter Cohen aptly noted in his arti&le, Orisha Journeys,
)The &on&ept o a single )=or?b@* people and its baptis! with the -ausa ter!or the inhabitants
o ByC was largely the work o liberated &apti%es and their &hildrenreturning ro! 6ierra (eone,
parti&ularly as >rotestant !issionaries. The ter!sby whi&h the des&endants o =or?b@1speakers are
known today in the New +orld D)NagE* in 7raFil, )Nago* in -aiti and Ga!ai&a, )(u&u!H* in
Cuba, )AkI* in 6ierra(eone, and )=or?b@* in Trinidad D e!erged as !eaningul &ategories in the
&onte"to ensla%e!ent and e"ile.*
Je%erend 8later 7ishop; 6a!uel AKayi1Crowther 81/0511/91; enshrined it into law when he
translated the 7ible into what is now known as )Cos!opolitan =oruba* language based largely on
his nati%e <yo diale&t but with inputs ro! other diale&ts as well.
7ut what e"a&tly does =arriba !eanL It is 1// years hen&e and not the Muestion still re!ains
unanswered, yet it is so %ery si!ple and ob%ious. As e%ery true <!o <duduwa knows, <ruko ni ro
eniyan 8=our na!e deter!ines your destiny; and hen&e i you answer a !eaningless na!e, the
&han&es o a !eaningless &olle&ti%e is enhan&ed. It is like walking around with a ake identity.
Those that are &alled =oruba today used to reer to the!sle%es as <!o ile K#a ro <Kire 8Children o
the land where they greet you )'ood ,orning, -ope you woke up well*; and e%erybody has thus
sin&e then des&ribed us based on this our philosophy. In the New +orld, we were &alled the Aku
people, a &orruption o the $ku Aro o, $ku <san o, $ku Ishe o, et& 8'ood ,orning, 'ood
Aternnon, +ell done, et&; that we &onstantly say as the outward e%iden&e o our deep &i%ilised and
&ourteous !anners. <nly &i%ilised people understand &ourtesy and ha%e the ti!e or it. (eo
Frobenius des&ribing the art o salutation in Ie in 1912 wroteN
)But the salutations are another pair of shoes. Their many variations would seem a striking oddity in Europe.
Some of the other Yoruban tribes may be taken as patterns of politeness in their greeting whi!h may as we think be
!onsidered overdone. The "li#ans have !reated su!h an e$%uisite gradation su!h a sublimely subtle light and shade in
!eremonial manner as would make the heart of an e$pert whether du!al tea!her of deportment or royal !ondu!tor of
the ballet dan!e with &oy. " am to my regret e$tremely badly versed in this department and !an only talk of its effe!t
but not of its more deli!ate re#nements.
'hen "li#an men or women salute ea!h other be it with a plain and easy !urtsey (whi!h is here the simplest form
adopted) or kneeling down or throwing oneselfupon the ground no matter whi!h there is yet a deliberateness a
ma&esty a dignity a devoted earnestness in the manner of its doing whi!h brings to light with every gesture with every
fold of !lothing the deep signi#!an!e and essential import of every single a!tion...These people show su!h an
astounding propriety in their manner of managing a dress a shawl and a !oat su!h an art in the display of their
movements that the spe!tator rightly draws the !on!lusion that time is but of little a!!ount in their eyes. +nd on!e so
!onvin!ed the natural %uestion arises what does the life look like whi!h goes on behind this beautiful and unanimous
mas%uerading, This is mostly a dif#!ult %uestion but in this !ase it is easily answered. " have previously mentioned
the high degree of those %ualities of intelle!t and its uses whi!h bear witness to the an!ient !ivili-ation on!e possessed
by Yorubans.*
Leo Frobenius, Voice of Africa, 1913
The na!e =arriba that the 6ultan o 6okoto ga%e to Clapperton is Kust !ore o the sa!e. The
people that identi.ed the!sel%es as <!o K#aro <Kire were well known or their &ourtesy and
&ultured !anners. And they had been this &ultured or at least O &enturies. To illustrate the antiMuity
o the des&ription =arriba, the e!inent Ti!buktu writer, s&holar, philosopher, history and Gurist,
Ah!ed 7aba the 7la&k 81OO511509; wrote in the 15
th
about the neighbours o the -ausas and the
7orgus, des&ribing the! as in Arabi& letters whi&h literarily translates into =J7. 8In Arabi&, %owels
were not written;
6ultan 7ello told Clapperton that the people on the other side o the Kworra, as the Ji%er Niger
was then known in 6okoto, were the =a Jiba people.
$%en today, away ro! the pul%erising, hustling degrading energies o the )!odern* &ities that
redu&es hu!an beings to &rabs in a bu&ket: in pla&es where the <!o K#aro <Kire still !anage to
e"ist, %ibrating with lie#s natural energies, when they get to the !arket to buy anything, they start
.rst by greeting, and e"tending goodwill, $ k#a ro o, PQ aKQ w#o igb@L 'ood !orning, hope the
pro.ts are pouring in. -ope you are !aking pro.ts.
And so, the people that &all the!sel%es =oruba today, said in -ausa what they usually say when
they go to their own !arkets, to other !er&hants. Apparently as ar ba&k as the 15
th
&entury and
right up to the 19
th
, <!o Ile K#aro <Kire re!e!bered their !anners and when they get to the
!arket pla&es where they !et the -ausa people, they inMuired ro! the! in their usual &ourteous
!anner, =a !eaning )-ow*, or =i !eaning )-ow about* and RSbT, !eaning )pro.t* 86ee the
Ui&tionary o -ausa1$nglish;. =a1RSbT or =i1RSbT1 -ow about pro.tL -en&e they were known as the
people that say =a1 RSbTN -ow >ro.t and so =arriba and its e%entual &orruption to =oruba.
6o please e%en i the &urrent people that are des&endants o <!o ile K#aro <Kire now insist on
being na!ed by others, in a ate shared by other Ari&ans ollowing the unortunate in%asions o the
19
th
&entury, &an they please spell it &orre&tly, =ariba or =iriba but ne%er =oruba.
In Ari&a, people ha%e been identi.ed by their essen&e, by their &hara&ters and not by !aterial
things or outward appearan&es. They are identi.ed by their o%er1a&hing philosophy whi&h is
displayed in their &hara&ter. A thing is only beautiul i its &hara&ter is beautiul. And hen&e the
<!o K#aro <Kire were identi.ed by their good &hara&ter o spreading goodwill a!ongst their ellow
hu!an beings. They were not pere&t, they were enKoined to work towards pere&tion. The a&t that
the syste! broke down does not negate the a&t that there was a syste!. The 'reek &i%ilisation also
&ollapsed o%er 0,000 years ago, as did the Jo!an &i%ilisation that su&&eeded it.
The .hildren of the /ods have gone under be!ause they failed to remember the law their awe0worthy an!estry
be%ueathed them...
1
The people that !ake progress in the world are not the &opiers. They are not the people that do not
1 Leo Frobenius, The Voice of Africa, 1913
&reate anything but are proud to be &onsu!ers o e%erything. >eople that !ake progress in the
world are the ones that are not only proud o their history but &ontinually &reate new things to
ensure a &ontinuity o that proud history. +hat do Ari&ans use the knowledge o their proud
heritage to do. Instead o inspiring the!, it a&ts on the! like a drug. As 7aba Ayi Kwei Ar!ah
e"plains,
)=ou &an ha%e a &ertain kind o knowledge and it a&ts on you again like a drug, soothes you. 6ays,
)+ell, isnVt it ni&e to know that we are des&ended ro! these antasti& people who in%ented this and
that and that.*...+ell they did their work and theyVre gone. They did their work so well they let
tra&es that people ha%e tried to wipe out and they didnVt su&&eed. ItVs not or us to use their work as
!attresses to lie on. +e ought to use their work as spring boards and !o%e*
The &onseMuen&es o orgetting our na!e is so destru&ti%e and debilitating, yet we are unaware o
it. The a&t that we are unaware, and now li%e progra!!ed li%es o Fo!bies is one &onseMuen&e.
The a&t that instead o building houses, we now build prisons as houses, &o!plete with iron bars on
our windows and doors to barri&ade oursel%es ro! the &onseMuen&es o orgetting our na!e. $%en
during the 100 years o &i%il war a!ongst the Children o <duduwa, our oreathers still did not
need to build prisons behind whi&h to sleep. Now we are in the !odern world and houses all o%er
Ile K#aro <Kire now ha%e to ha%e prison bars on the!. +$ say it is the )!odern* world but the
people we are ollowing into )!odernity* do not barri&ade the!sel%es behind bars to sleep at night:
they do not ha%e )burglary proo * as a standard on their own windows and doors. And this is Kust
one o the &onseMuen&es.
7e&ause we ha%e orgotten our na!e and our heritage, po%erty and its !any &hildren now prowl the
land. No <!o K#a ro <Kire has any business being poor. Ar&haeologists ha%e now dis&o%ered that
there was trade between an&ient Ie, 'ao and Igbo Wkwu. Ie was apparently a !aKor glass
!anua&turing &entre a!ongst other things. The <baluon !ask was &ast in nearly pure &opper. As
6uFanne 7lier noted, this was )a eat thatartists o an&ient 'ree&e and Jo!e, the Italian
Jenaissan&e, andChinese bronFe &asters ne%er a&hie%ed.*
The lost wa" !ethod is now &alled in%est!ent &asting. It is the used today in industrial pro&esses
that in%ol%e &o!ple" !etal parts. It is i!portant today in the aeronauti&al, power generation,
!ilitary, !edi&al, and auto!oti%e industries. The te&hnology that the artist1engineers o An&ient
Ie, 7enin and Igbo1Wkwu !astered, is now used to &reate parts or nu&lear power stations as well as
spa&e &rats going to ,ars. In a&t, today, engineers ro! the !ost te&hnologi&ally ad%an&ed
&ountries and !akers o For!ula one &ars send their engineering students to study the Ie and
7enin 7ronFes to i!pro%e their own &asting abilities. The only thing that has &hanged is the
!aterials used and the s&ale o produ&tion. Now we tra%el to oreign lands to go and ollow like
sheep.
Nobody taught these Ari&an artist1engineers, they did not go to any I%y league uni%ersity, they did
not a&Muire any &erti.&ate or titles: using their brains, building on or!er knowledge, they !astered
the &he!istry and the engineering o !etal &asting, &o!bining this with superb artisti& talent to
produ&e these a!aFingly beautiul works o art we are now so proud o. They did all this o%er nine
&enturies, 900 years, ago. Now we are !odern and apparently our !odern brains ha%e atrophied:
we are now not able to &o!e up with anything ingenious any longer until we ha%e been s&hooled by
oreigners. <ur Ari&an oreathers were inno%ators. Now we are i!porting unsuitable te&hnology
and sear&hing or oreign e"perts to tea&h us how to ar!.
+hen we say we are >roudly =oruba, do we know what that !eansL -ow &an we be proudly
so!ething we don#t knowL A people#s na!e de.nes their purpose and their aspiration. A people
with a !eaningless na!e will ha%e a !eaningless purpose and no dire&tion. They will stu!ble ro!
&onusion to &onusion. A thoughtless people do not progress. Their ortunes &ontinue on a
downward spiral in tande! with their thoughtlessness. I we reuse to think deeply and reXe&t, then
we should not &o!plain about the situation we .nd oursel%es today, where Ari&a#s ho!eland is seen
as the hopeless &ontinent and e%en our Nobel (aurette was subKe&ted to a thorough sear&h at an
A!eri&an airport in 0010. Ari&ans landing in their pri%ate Kets are not speared the indignity o strip
sear&hing either.
+,-.-n/-0an-1e-n/-0an n2 m3ba n/-0an !456 8It is ailure to &ount anything as signi.&ant that ruins
things; <ur ailure to &ount the !eaning o our na!e as signi.&ant results in a break down o our
&ulture and our &i%ilisation. I your identity is not i!portant, then what are you but &ha in the
wind Xying whi&he%er way the wind blows e%en i that wind is blowing you to your destru&tion.
+,m7te, 8,m7r9, :m: ,y; m45f8-; . <0= s>0o ?gb8af8. 8(a&k o resour&eulness and la&k o
thoughtulness &ause si" siblings to die as pawns or only twel%e thousand &owries.; <ur la&k o
thoughtulness is why our &hildren pour out in strea!s to go and &ontribute to the de%elop!ent and
progress o other so&ieties who know e"a&tly who they are and think and plan or the uture. This is
why you see <!o Ile K#aro oKire, struggling to lea%e their land and go and wash &ars in the reeFing
&old. This is why you see <!o Ile K#aro <Kire, !o%ing in strea!s to go and tea&h the &hildren o
oreigners the wisdo! o their oreathers, while their own &hildren at ho!e in Ari&an wallow in
ignoran&e. This is why you see <!o Ile K#aro <Kire, instead o turning Ile1Ie and its sister &ity,
7enin City into the In%est!ent Casting &apitals o the world, are instead &ontent and e%en proud to
be in%enting new te&hnologies or the de%elop!ent and ad%an&e!ent o other &i%ilisations while
une!ploy!ent and ignoran&e supplies thugs or politi&ians to use to a&hie%e their purposes o
urther destru&tion at ho!e.
<ur la&k o thoughtulness is the reason we do not know that 7raFil has the se&ond highest nu!ber
o 7la&k people in one &ountry. In the 19
th
&entury, beore the in%aders .nished the &oloniFation o
what is now Nigeria, returning Ari&ans ro! 7raFil !ade ortunes e"porting kola nuts, pal! oil,
bla&k soap, pepper, beads,baskets, straw, dippers, parrot eathers, beans, skin &rea!, !ats, &owries,
dru!s, and orna!ental &lothknown as asoke in Nigeria and pano da Costa in 7ahia.
A&&ording to one 19th1&entury shipVs re&ordN )A 7raFilian !er&hant o IKesha origin, Feli&idade
,aria de6anta Ana, &onsigned to a &ertain (u&iano Crispi! da 6il%a in 7ahia, the ollowing
!er&handiseN soap,kola nuts, lengths o traditional &loth known as panos da Costa, &uias and
aguidab@s 8strings o beadsdedi&ated to the ori"@ Nana 7uruku and her son <baluayQ.*
+!45gb8 ni ti 0>5n/0>56 8Croaking1in1relays is the !ark o rogs.; It is in the nature o sheep to ollow
and to la&k initiati%e. This is why you see <!o K#aro <Kire parroting inanely that )there is no need
to re1in%ent the wheel* and so all we ha%e to do is to &ut and paste New =ork straight onto (agos.
=es, there is no need to re1in%ent the wheel. It is old te&hnology. +e should trans&end the wheel and
in%ent new te&hnology or whi&h a new na!e has to be in%ented.
The 2iati!um
"f we tell gently gently
+ll that we shall one day have to tell
'ho then will hear our voi!es without laughter
Sad !omplaining voi!es of beggars
'ho indeed will hear them without laughter,
"f we tell roughly of our torments
Ever in!reasing from the start of things
'hat eyes will wat!h our large mouths
Shaped by the laughter of big !hildren
'hat eyes will wat!h our large mouth,
'hat hearts will listen to our !lamouring,
'hat ear to our pitiful anger
'hi!h grows in us like a tumour
"n the bla!k depth of our plaintive throats,
'hen our 3ead !omes with their 3ead
'hen they have spoken to us in their !lumsy voi!es4
Just as our ears were deaf
To their !ries to their wild appeals
Just as our ears were deaf
They have left on the earth their !ries
"n the air on the water where they have tra!ed their signs
5or us blind deaf and unworthy Sons
'ho see nothing of what they have made
"n the air on the water where they have tra!ed their signs
+nd sin!e we did not understand the dead
Sin!e we have never listen to their !ries
"f we weep gently gently
"f we !ry roughly to our torments
'hat heart will listen to our !lamoring
'hat ear to our sobbing hearts,
Birago Diop