Yoruba has a vibrant Language which encapsulates a whole varieties of topics. it can only yield some secrets to the most patient and erudite learner in the language. Not all Yoruba know this about Yoruba language. Yoruba language describe everything it identifies, so we have a scientific language in our hand.

The word IGBO have its origin with the Yoruba. This does not seize to be if we come about its meaning among the southeastern neighbours presently so identified. what does the word IGBO mean to the east? Albeit, the Yoruba have their variants of Igbo, vis Ijebu-igbo, Oke-Igbo, and so on. For the sake of research, this names may have common origin.

Igbo is Yoruba for few things, such as forest, weed, rustic and so on. however, given the etymology of the term IGBO, we start to wander, how does this name evolve? I-GBO derived from early Yoruba dialect, Awori, that have the same word "IGBO" for Quest.

Then you may discover from this that the "forest" (IGBO in mainstream Yoruba) was once a place that the ancient folks were trying to colonize. the act of searching for this particular place is, in Awori dialect IGBO. Many places derive their names from this particular historical essence.

Did the Yoruba have something akin to this?
Of course, the Yorubas did.

But the Yoruba have plenty options owing to the fact that the expert linguists of ancient Yoruba often create varieties of words to explain vital information. The Yoruba version of the Quest is Owa, which means "the Seekers." This were the folks that settle people at different places on the plains we now call Nigeria at a time in history.

The Yoruba Owa went westward after settling the Igbo contingent at the eastern part of modern Nigeria, precisely at Onitsha axis and continued westward. the Owa were searching for a coastal harbour, hence the word "Owa Obokun-remi" survive till our time. "Owa Obokun-remi" simply means "seeker of a coast across the water."

Of course, it is wrong to deny history, it is like trying to kill a part of Yoruba history every time we rationalize or suppress this aspect of Yoruba history concerning the Igbos. the Igbos emanated from people that were settled across the eastern side of the Niger by the ancient Yoruba ancestors. Avoiding this aspect of history portend more danger than making it manifest. It is better told than hold.

Nobody needs to agree with it, but information like this are for record seekers, not for egocentric, online tribalism-peddlers anyway. Albeit, people have their way of interpretation - to the extent of their limits.

Source plus proof.
Then
Just then,i might take u seriously
Not saying ur analogy isn't possible
But where's proof of research and result?

WHAT ARE THE TRUE ORIGINS OF IGBO AS AN ETHNONYM?

Let me just say straight up that it is very unlikely that the Igbos derived their ethnic name from the Yorubas. Igboland and Yorubaland are not contiguous, and have not been since the languages of both groups became distinct. Their territories are seperated by the Edo-speaking bloc. And until the 20th century Yoruba-Igbo contact was very very minimal. For examples,a small number of Yorubas apparently settled on the western frontier of Igboland (to form the Olukwumi language group); some Okun Yorubas captured in Nupe slave raids were taken down the Niger to Aboh; and Awka smiths probably reached Lagos before 1900 (if we are to believe what Basden wrote).

These few contacts were peripheral, neither extensive nor intensive, and when a certain Yoruba politician in the 1940's and ,50's said the Yorubas didn't know the Igbos before colonialism, he really wasn't far from the truth. (By the way, The Onitsha-Yoruba connection lacks scholarly merit and I'll disregard it until I see convincing proof, sorry).

So what does 'Igbo' mean in the context of the present ethnolinguistic entity? As far as I know, there are four theories.

1) Igbo means 'forest' or 'bush', or something to do with vegetation or thick foliage.

2) Igbo means a community of people.

3) Igbo means a slave.

4) Igbo is a corruption of the word Hebrew (Eboe and Heebo, being intermediate forms).

Number 4 is obviously pseudohistorical nonsense, and I'm not even considering it.

According to linguists, Igbo, Edo, Nupe, Igbirra, Igala, Idoma and Yoruba are all related languages; and it appears that the root word '-GBO' is common to many of these languages and denotes 'forest' or 'vegetation'
For example, Forest in Yoruba is 'Igbo', in Edo it is 'Egbo'. Modern Igbos do not use a '-GBO' word to mean forest today, but they may have done in more ancient times. But the Igbo language today still contains many '-GBO' words which connotes 'vegetation' or 'bush'. Examples: Ugbo(farm), Ugboko (wilderness, bush), mgbo or mgboko (swamp-vegetation), agbo (vegetable garden, in Nnewi area) etc. Thus the more correct thing is to say that 'Igbo' derives from a protolanguage ancestral to Yoruba, Edo, Igbo, Igala, and probably Idoma, too; and not directly from Yoruba.

The second theory that Igbo means a community of people was proposed by Onwuejogwu, and I think this theory is metaphorically linked to the first. 'The commmunities of peoples' who lived in these 'Igbo' (much of Igboland was rainforest, after all) became known as 'Igbo' themselves!

Note that, in precolonial times, no Igbo-speaking group called itself Igbo; 'Igbo' was used for their neigbours living at a distance, but not for themselves. Thus an Nri man will call his Adazi and Agulu neighbours 'Igbo' as if the term does not also refer to himself. Perhaps the reason is this: Igboland was essentially rainforest, and each village was built in a forest clearing surrounded by bush. So from the perspective of one village, it appears that every other village is situated inside a bush, except your own village. The people in those 'bush villages' must then be the 'Igbo/bush people' and not yourself in your 'civilized forest clearing'! Lol. Ok, I joke. And I digress; but a competent scholar should look into that. Might be some truth there.

The third theory claims Igbo originally meant slave. Large numbers of Igbo people were taken as slaves during the trans-Atlantic slave traffic; and its plausible that non-Igbos and even Igbos like the Aros who tapped the slave resources of Igboland came to look at the Igbo country as one vast slave reserve, and call everyone there slave. The Edo word for slave is 'Igbon'. The Igala word for slave is similar to the Edo one ( I don't quite remember what is it. Omigbon? Someone help me here). Among the Ijaws of the Niger-Delta, a slave is sometimes called Igbobo. So it might appear that Igbo originally meant slaves.

But that would then mean that before Igboland became a major source of slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries, the word Igbo was not used in an ethnological context. And this is most unlikely. It is more likely that 'Igbo' was already in use before the slave traffic; and that the slave traffic widened its use and meaning. A similar thing happened in East Europe where centuries of enslaving Slavs gave us our word for 'slaves', from the name of that East European ethnic group. ('Slaves' came from 'Slavs', not 'Slavs' from 'slaves').

CONCLUSION:
Igbo probably originally meant 'Forest', but was not derived firsthand from Yoruba, since words with the -GBO root, and bearing the same meanings, occur widely among the Kwa-speaking peoples (I.e, Edo, Igbo, Yoruba, Idoma, etc). It was perhaps first used by Kwa-speaking peoples who lived in more open grasslands to refer to their neighbours to the south whose country was more forested. The neighbours of the Igbo who live in more open country are the Igala and the Idoma. These two groups speak Kwa languages. It is more reasonable to point to them as the first people to use a GBO word to designate the Igbos to the south of them, rather than pointing to the more distant Yoruba.

NB: The practice of refering to people who live in the forests of Southern Nigeria as IGBO may have been more widespread than it is now. Yoruba legend speaks of aboriginals met in the Ife area by Oduduwa's group as Igbo (Ugbo, in some accounts). Now, many versions claim Oduduwa came from somewhere north of Ife, where the vegetation was lighter and the land more open. I've seen accounts that say he was from Igbomina or Nupe. Could it be that these people coming from a savannaland and speaking a Kwa language refered to the aborigines of Ife as Igbo because the latter lived in a forested country?

Another observation. The Igbos refer to the Igala and the Idoma to the North of them as 'Akpoto'. The Yoruba refer to the Nupe to the north of them as 'Tapa'. The Igala refer to the Jukun to the north of them as 'Apa'. It would appear, then, that many Southern Nigerian groups refered to more northernly groups by words containing the root '-KPA/PA' or '-KPO'?

What could this mean? I know that among some Igbos, 'okpoto' means 'a kind of grass-stalk'. Could 'Akpoto/Apa/Tapa' possibly be cognate Kwa terms referring to 'grass people' or 'grassland people', in contrast to another kwa term, 'Igbo' referring to 'forest people'?

Another digression! Things are not always as simple as they appear to a casual observer.

Radoillo: WHAT ARE THE TRUE ORIGINS OF IGBO AS AN ETHNONYM?



Thus the more correct thing is to say that 'Igbo' derives from a protolanguage ancestral to Yoruba, Edo, Igbo, Igala, and probably Idoma, too; and not directly from Yoruba.

If you do not go about it from the post title, you will see that that's what i imply by making refrence to the Yoruba ancestors. I do not like subtle cultural-imperialism either. Our ancestors do not really speak our language so to say, our language evolve over time. I use to think that we invent words to meet needs and fashion, by stretching or confusing the original to create a more useful coinage.

Radoillo:
The second theory that Igbo means a community of people was proposed by Onwuejogwu, and I think this theory is metaphorically linked to the first. 'The commmunities of peoples' who lived in these 'Igbo' (much of Igboland was rainforest, after all) became known as 'Igbo' themselves!

That's plausible. Considering the Yoruba version of the same ideology.

The Yoruba word for township or municipal is Igbo-ro. So if you hear the newscaster says "Igbo-ro eko", she is referring to Lagos cosmopolitan or something in that order. More so, Igbo combines with "ro" here: then it is a historical statement that says "the quest of the thinker." If Onwuejogwu concluded independently that Igbo implies 'communities of People', i think the same pointer is just given. Fact connects.

Radoillo:
Note that, in precolonial times, no Igbo-speaking group called itself Igbo; 'Igbo' was used for their neigbours living at a distance, but not for themselves. Thus an Nri man will call his Adazi and Agulu neighbours 'Igbo' as if the term does not also refer to himself. Perhaps the reason is this: Igboland was essentially rainforest, and each village was built in a forest clearing surrounded by bush. So from the perspective of one village, it appears that every other village is situated inside a bush, except your own village. The people in those 'bush villages' must then be the 'Igbo/bush people' and not yourself in your 'civilized forest clearing'! Lol. Ok, I joke. And I digress; but a competent scholar should look into that. Might be some truth there.

You are speaking Yoruba here, it is called Freudian slip.

Radoillo:
The third theory claims Igbo originally meant slave. Large numbers of Igbo people were taken as slaves during the trans-Atlantic slave traffic; and its plausible that non-Igbos and even Igbos like the Aros who tapped the slave resources of Igboland came to look at the Igbo country as one vast slave reserve, and call everyone there slave. The Edo word for slave is 'Igbon'. The Igala word for slave is similar to the Edo one ( I don't quite remember what is it. Omigbon? Someone help me here). Among the Ijaws of the Niger-Delta, a slave is sometimes called Igbobo. So it might appear that Igbo originally meant slaves.

But that would then mean that before Igboland became a major source of slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries, the word Igbo was not used in an ethnological context. And this is most unlikely. It is more likely that 'Igbo' was already in use before the slave traffic; and that the slave traffic widened its use and meaning. A similar thing happened in East Europe where centuries of enslaving Slavs gave us our word for 'slaves', from the name of that East European ethnic group. ('Slaves' came from 'Slavs', not 'Slavs' from 'slaves').

It should be understood that since the powerful Benin empire and other riverine power blocs on that axis was strongly involved in the slave trade, people at 360 degree radius not as strong as the Benin Empire becomes a prey, casting a new identity would make a secondary version quite popular, but it may be impossible without primary donor, just as you have proved.

Radoillo:
CONCLUSION:
Igbo probably originally meant 'Forest', but was not derived firsthand from Yoruba, since words with the -GBO root, and bearing the same meanings, occur widely among the Kwa-speaking peoples (I.e, Edo, Igbo, Yoruba, Idoma, etc). It was perhaps first used by Kwa-speaking peoples who lived in more open grasslands to refer to their neighbours to the south whose country was more forested. The neighbours of the Igbo who live in more open country are the Igala and the Idoma. These two groups speak Kwa languages. It is more reasonable to point to them as the first people to use a GBO word to designate the Igbos to the south of them, rather than pointing to the more distant Yoruba.

The term is part of ancient words that came with the ancestors, it is fossilized as "quest" with the Awori, but other Yoruba use the same word to mean forest, just like the Ibos. It is a common heritage of KWA linguistic phylum. In fact, OGBO in DAHOMEY means BUSH. 'GBOJI, so tom say is "inside BUSH"

Radoillo:
NB: The practice of refering to people who live in the forests of Southern Nigeria as IGBO may have been more widespread than it is now. Yoruba legend speaks of aboriginals met in the Ife area by Oduduwa's group as Igbo (Ugbo, in some accounts). Now, many versions claim Oduduwa came from somewhere north of Ife, where the vegetation was lighter and the land more open. I've seen accounts that say he was from Igbomina or Nupe. Could it be that these people coming from a savannaland and speaking a Kwa language refered to the aborigines of Ife as Igbo because the latter lived in a forested country?

Its a delicate issue here, it is still this same mentality of 'aborigin versus settlers' that the we have that seems to be distorting the interpretation of information this way. in actual sense, the ancestors came to a virgin land, and that is what IGBO means. it might seems like by taking up Igbo, one i speaking for the aborigines, but the folks that we would want to see as 'secondary settlers' with 'fledging civilization' conquering IGBO were themselves IGBO by extension in history. the puzzle can only be resolved by proper linguistic analysis. No jumping the gun like our forebears and researchers.

Radoillo:
Another observation. The Igbos refer to the Igala and the Idoma to the North of them as 'Akpoto'. The Yoruba refer to the Nupe to the north of them as 'Tapa'. The Igala refer to the Jukun to the north of them as 'Apa'. It would appear, then, that many Southern Nigerian groups refered to more northernly groups by words containing the root '-KPA/PA' or '-KPO'?

What could this mean? I know that among some Igbos, 'okpoto' means 'a kind of grass-stalk'. Could 'Akpoto/Apa/Tapa' possibly be cognate Kwa terms referring to 'grass people' or 'grassland people', in contrast to another kwa term, 'Igbo' referring to 'forest people'?

Another digression! Things are not always as simple as they appear to a casual observer.

Your final digression count for something.

Before now, i have the post to publish and really, my conclusion is that 'Apa' is Yoruba for 'Palestine'. It may sound far fetched, but that's the information at my disposal after linguistic and folk-trad. analysis. All these folks came from Palestine and settle at vantage points, they intertwined but do confuse ancient history of inter-tribal crisis that predate their resettlement in sub-Sahara Africa a lot in their oral traditions within their remotest enclaves, but some have achieved perfect harmony that can't be disturbed. THat be my own digression.

I will like to pause here, but if you will find out more about Igbo History, you will find great resource in Yoruba. Although both people guard their history jealously, it may be too soon for this, but my friend, Igbo is the younger in this respect as to preservation of tradition, and she is the one that may have to embark on the quest, positively and politely, as both culture have a lot to learn or share.

Before i go, i will like to share this: what does Aro ( as in Arochukwu, the long juju) mean with the Igbo? did you see Ro connected with Igbo in Igboro? aro is akin to Odofin in Yoruba, it is a title chieftain or better still a historical figure disguised in Yoruba liturgy. Igbo replace the modifier 'A' in Aro for us to have [IGBO]Ro, if not we may have it as Igbo Aro. But that would be too open, fact ought to be disguised.



I really have a good time with your dept of analysis. Good job.

lorretta u: Source plus proof.
Then
Just then,i might take u seriously
Not saying ur analogy isn't possible
But where's proof of research and result?

We are all at the mercy of folk tales and common strands of tradition, the Africans of old did not leave behind much documents, all we have are parchments of oral traditions: cross-border exercise of this nature is verifying common usage of vital words that means something to some or all of us, peradventure it may have something to offer us in contemporary time.

We do not have the luxury of source, sister, we are to create materials for people that will later come to analyze, we can't withhold our curiosity because what we are about to do lack precedence. let's take this responsibility together, it is just an initiative. Nobody is forced to believe anything, its just a mental exercise or something more than that.

The term 'Akpoto' doesn't come from the Igbo specifically - other groups used the term as well (including the Igala themselves) because Akpoto was the name of an actual group that the Igalas subsumed. Akpoto was also used to refer to a subsection of the Idoma in the past. So the Akpoto had some relationship with both Igala and Idoma in the past.

On "Igbon" meaning slave in Edo, that's ambiguous. I've seen a few sources - some of them older sources - that declare that this was an Edo term for slaves (possibly an Edo word for slaves, but it could not have been the Edo word for slaves - that was a different word) in the past, but I've seen other sources - some of them also older sources - that show, on the contrary, that in the past (not just the present) this word referred not to slaves but to the Igbo ethnic group.

Hmmm.
It is really interesting to learn that there is some evidence in Yoruba that supports Onwuejogwu's theory that 'Igbo' could mean 'community of people'. I'll look more into that. Thanks.

Concerning your 'Aro' hypothesis, perhaps I should say that the name of that Igbo community is actually 'Aru'. 'Aro' is the colonial British mispronounciation. I dont know what Aru means in Igbo. There's a suggestion that it means 'a ritual staff or spear'.

About ur theory that Apa may be a corruption of Palestine, well, LOL. I prefer to look closer home for the origins of our various peoples and their vocabularies. I only look farther afield when there are no tenable explanations to be found nearer home. And even then, I'm still highly skeptical.

Radoillo: Hmmm.
It is really interesting to learn that there is some evidence in Yoruba that supports Onwuejogwu's theory that 'Igbo' could mean 'community of people'. I'll look more into that. Thanks.

Concerning your 'Aro' hypothesis, perhaps I should say that the name of that Igbo community is actually 'Aru'. 'Aro' is the colonial British mispronounciation. I dont know what Aru means in Igbo. There's a suggestion that it means 'a ritual staff or spear'.

About ur theory that Apa may be a corruption of Palestine, well, LOL. I prefer to look closer home for the origins of our various peoples and their vocabularies. I only look farther afield when there are no tenable explanations to be found nearer home. And even then, I'm still highly skeptical.

I think in most dialects around Imo State "Arnon" is used. Its has a very deep underlying "n" in pronounciation even though spelt as "Aro". In Igbo folklore, there was a time known as the era of "gbo" or "oge gbo" which refers to "time of no civilization". The people believed to live in this part of the world were "Nde Gbo" which literally translates to "Gbo people". The "Gbo" in this case has different tone with "Igbo" ethnic group but is completely same with the Yoruba "Igbo".

Sometimes the hidden meaning of words can be camouflaged, if we tend to find the corresponding English word to African words, we would lose the secret. I am somewhat handicapped for not being Igbo language speaker, but i am familiar with some camouflaged Igbo words that has Yoruba tendencies, i don't need to be told that some ancients are confusing us somewhere. its like people pick the synonyms of one word that kept splitting to make each language's vocabulary.

Now this is what i mean, if the Igbo says "Nka?" I think it means "this one?" In Yoruba, "this one" is "eleyi?" Where am i driving to? Nka can have meaning in Yoruba if carefully looked at, but it will point to something else. The Yoruba folk phrase is "Obara-nka" Ibo folk-phrase is Nwa-bara(Bara being deity with Igbo, as Obara is Yoruba for Sango) We may look at this later.

Nka is a variant of Ika in Yoruba. '-nka' in Yoruba is [something] 'on the move'. Likewise 'Eyi' can also mean moving, just as 'ika' or '-nka'. Now the Yoruba often repeat similar words as one, so we have a fixture of 'Nka and Eyi' as "Ayika".

Hope you see the correlations. 'A' is our modifier, it could be any of the vowels of Yoruba. then the meaning might slightly change, as in 'i-yi-ka,' that is 'moving about.'

The question is, why did Eyi and Nka have to convey synonymous shades other than what they were suppose to denote in their various places? Why is it that it has to also identify a people, such as Ika? Now Okrika sounds like Yoruba, o-kiri-ka: meaning 'wandering about', 'hawking about'. That shows some kind of trade language, just as 'Ohafia'

Obaranka is like the receptor of this okirika trade talk, meaning "buying about". Some of these words have to be analyzed, what is the place and identity of 'Bara' in 'Igbo' tradition? who were these merchants of Ohaffia and what were they selling? all this could be some 'ancient trade jargon' that had just survived.

It is because these words were 'antiques' that they were not changed for countless centuries till our time , we need to know.

So we must always endeavour to present all the possible shades and give them royal treatment sort of, we do not really know which one holds what secret, but a lump of English meaning will kill the secret.

prexios: Sometimes the hidden meaning of words can be camouflaged, if we tend to find the corresponding English word to African words, we would lose the secret. I am somewhat handicapped for not being Igbo language speaker, but i am familiar with some camouflaged Igbo words that has Yoruba tendencies, i don't need to be told that some ancients are confusing us somewhere. its like people pick the synonyms of one word that kept splitting to make each language's vocabulary.

Now this is what i mean, if the Igbo says "Nka?" I think it means "this one?" In Yoruba, "this one" is "eleyi?" Where am i driving to? Nka can have meaning in Yoruba if carefully looked at, but it will point to something else. The Yoruba folk phrase is "Obara-nka" Ibo folk-phrase is Nwa-bara(Bara being deity with Igbo, as Obara is Yoruba for Sango) We may look at this later.

Nka is a variant of Ika in Yoruba. '-nka' in Yoruba is [something] 'on the move'. Likewise 'Eyi' can also mean moving, just as 'ika' or '-nka'. Now the Yoruba often repeat similar words as one, so we have a fixture of 'Nka and Eyi' as "Ayika".

Hope you see the correlations. 'A' is our modifier, it could be any of the vowels of Yoruba. then the meaning might slightly change, as in 'i-yi-ka,' that is 'moving about.'

The question is, why did Eyi and Nka have to convey synonymous shades other than what they were suppose to denote in their various places? Why is it that it has to also identify a people, such as Ika? Now Okrika sounds like Yoruba, o-kiri-ka: meaning 'wandering about', 'hawking about'. That shows some kind of trade language, just as 'Ohafia'

Obaranka is like the receptor of this okirika trade talk, meaning "buying about". Some of these words have to be analyzed, what is the place and identity of 'Bara' in 'Igbo' tradition? who were these merchants of Ohaffia and what were they selling? all this could be some 'ancient trade jargon' that had just survived.

It is because these words were 'antiques' that they were not changed for countless centuries till our time , we need to know.

So we must always endeavour to present all the possible shades and give them royal treatment sort of, we do not really know which one holds what secret, but a lump of English meaning will kill the secret.

You are making the grave mistake of assuming that because we have two similar sounding words(with different meanings) in both languages then one word must be borrowed from the other. Stop it. Among several totally distant and unrelated languages of the world today, you are bound to have similar-sounding words to be found common in several languages. For example, Ego(Pride) in English and Ego(Money) in Igbo, 'Moi'(Me) in French and 'Munwa'(Me) in Igbo, 'Bata' (come in) in Igbo and 'Bata'(a drum) in Yoruba. These are few examples, to mention a few.

However, it would be terribly wrong to assume that because of a few occurrences of similar-sounding words, not even similar-meaning words, then one language came from the other or one language borrowed the words from the other. Igbo and Yoruba languages are two totally different languages that developed at different points in history. Igbo language may have developed first. Carbon dating of Igbo-Ukwu artifacts discovered that the Igbo people have been in their present location since 900AD or 9th century,
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igbo-Ukwu


while carbon dating test done on Yoruba artifacts posits that the yoruba civilization started at around 1300AD or 13th century.
http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/yorubat/yt2.html

This is 400 years after the Igbo civilization came into existence. How then is that possible that Igbo language or words came from Yoruba as you'd have us to believe? It follows more logically that it could be the other way round.

I know several Igbo/Yoruba related words such as Nti/Eti(Igbo/Yoruba for Ear), Onu/Enu(Igbo/Yoruba for mouth), Ogwu/Ogun(charm/drug), Ozugo/Otito(Its ok/enough), Egwugwu/Egungun(masquerade), Umu/Omo(Igbo/Yoruba plural word for children. Some Igbo dialects say 'Omu') etc.

Looking at the morphology of the words above, any well-versed linguist will discover that the Igbo forms are more heavier and complex in pronunciations and spellings while the Yoruba words are simpler and lighter in pronunciation, or a mild corruption of the Igbo words, which might lead us to conclude that the Igbo words may actually be the parent root words, if we decide to tow the line of easy assumptions.

The examples above go a long way to show that the two languages must have broken off at some earlier point in the annals of time to form the two different languages of nowadays. However, we must not be in a haste to conclude using the examples above that one language birthed the other when the words may have been borrowed from one other at some point in history.

PS: it is Nwa Agbara. Not wa bara as you wrote. Agbara is the southern Igbo word for deity. In Anambra, Delta Igbo and Enugu, it is Alusi. And the Igbo words for forest are Ozala and Owere, depending on the dialect.

@Prexios.
Camouflaged Igbo words that have Yoruba tendencies?
This guy you are funny o.
You and that amor4ce guy, very deluded persons.
I've seen you guys on some thread claiming some English words to have Yoruba roots.
You make some nice contributions but you can't seem to let go of the need to assert your culture and what not over people.

Useless thread! One day hausa people will start claiming that igbo is an hausa word. We don't have anything in common with the yorubas.

bigfrancis21:

You are making the grave mistake of assuming that because we have two similar sounding words(with different meanings) in both languages then one word must be borrowed from the other. Stop it. Among several totally distant and unrelated languages of the world today, you are bound to have similar-sounding words to be found common in several languages. For example, Ego(Pride) in English and Ego(Money) in Igbo, 'Moi'(Me) in French and 'Munwa'(Me) in Igbo, 'Bata' (come in) in Igbo and 'Bata'(a drum) in Yoruba. These are few examples, to mention a few.

However, it would be terribly wrong to assume that because of a few occurrences of similar-sounding words, not even similar-meaning words, then one language came from the other or one language borrowed the words from the other. Igbo and Yoruba languages are two totally different languages that developed at different points in history. Igbo language may have developed first. Carbon dating of Igbo-Ukwu artifacts discovered that the Igbo people have been in their present location since 900AD or 9th century,
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igbo-Ukwu


while carbon dating test done on Yoruba artifacts posits that the yoruba civilization started at around 1300AD or 13th century.
http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/yorubat/yt2.html

This is 400 years after the Igbo civilization came into existence. How then is that possible that Igbo language or words came from Yoruba as you'd have us to believe? It follows more logically that it could be the other way round.

I know several Igbo/Yoruba related words such as Nti/Eti(Igbo/Yoruba for Ear), Onu/Enu(Igbo/Yoruba for mouth), Ogwu/Ogun(charm/drug), Ozugo/Otito(Its ok/enough), Egwugwu/Egungun(masquerade), Umu/Omo(Igbo/Yoruba plural word for children. Some Igbo dialects say 'Omu') etc.

Looking at the morphology of the words above, any well-versed linguist will discover that the Igbo forms are more heavier and complex in pronunciations and spellings while the Yoruba words are simpler and lighter in pronunciation, or a mild corruption of the Igbo words, which might lead us to conclude that the Igbo words may actually be the parent root words, if we decide to tow the line of easy assumptions.

The examples above go a long way to show that the two languages must have broken off at some earlier point in the annals of time to form the two different languages of nowadays. However, we must not be in a haste to conclude using the examples above that one language birthed the other when the words may have been borrowed from one other at some point in history.

PS: it is Nwa Agbara. Not wa bara as you wrote. Agbara is the southern Igbo word for deity. In Anambra, Delta Igbo and Enugu, it is Alusi. And the Igbo words for forest are Ozala and Owere, depending on the dialect.

Forest in some other parts is "Ikpa" while "Ozara" refers to wilderness.

Linguistically, Igbo, Edo, Igala, Yoruba and many surrounding groups developed from a parent language but one cannot ascertain which of these is closer to the parent language. So I guess the OP didn't observe anything people didn't know but he's viewing it from his ethnic point of view.

Antivirus92: Useless thread! One day hausa people will start claiming that igbo is an hausa word. We don't have anything in common with the yorubas.

Culturally and linguistically, Igbos actually do have a lot in common with the Yorubas. This might sound strange, but as far as language goes, Igbo is more related to Yoruba than to Ijaw or Ibibio.

Radoillo:

Culturally and linguistically, Igbos actually do have a lot in common with the Yorubas. This might sound strange, but as far as language goes, Igbo is more related to Yoruba than to Ijaw or Ibibio.

i repeat, we don' t have anything in common with yoruba people. Btw,op, you are the same person fighting against the igbo people in the other "aro and ikwerre" thread. U didn' t believe that ikwerre and igbo have similarities but u believed that yoruba and igbo do have similarities. Madness at it's peak!

Antivirus92: i repeat, we don' t have anything in common with yoruba people. Btw,op, you are the same person fighting against the igbo people in the other "aro and ikwerre" thread. U didn' t believe that ikwerre and igbo have similarities but u believed that yoruba and igbo do have similarities. Madness at it's peak!

If you are referring to me, let me say it now that I never said Igbos and Ikwerres don't have similarities. It doesn't take a professor of anthropology or linguistics to see how closely the people of the southeast are related to Ikwerres and Etches and Ogbas and Anioma. If you don't understand what we were arguing about in that Aro/Ikwerre thread, then I'm sorry, I can't help you.

Radoillo:

If you are referring to me, let me say it now that I never said Igbos and Ikwerres don't have similarities. It doesn't take a professor of anthropology or linguistics to see how closely the people of the southeast are related to Ikwerres and Etches and Ogbas and Anioma. If you don't understand what we were arguing about in that Aro/Ikwerre thread, then I'm sorry, I can't help you.

mess u off! Inferiority complex is ur surname. Igbos are igbos, and "igbo" as a word has igbo origin. Why isn't it the other way round; yorubas borrowed the word from igbos.

Antivirus92: mess u off! Inferiority complex is ur surname. Igbos are igbos, and "igbo" as a word has igbo origin. Why isn't it the other way round; yorubas borrowed the word from igbos.

I don't know what your problem is, dude. Did I ever say Igbos borrowed any word from Yorubas or vice versa?

I'm gonna ignore you from now because apparently you are more interested in hurling insults than in having a calm intellectual discourse. This thread is for people who have at least a basic understanding of historical linguistics; something you apparently don't have.

Bye.

Abagworo:

I think in most dialects around Imo State "Arnon" is used. Its has a very deep underlying "n" in pronounciation even though spelt as "Aro". In Igbo folklore, there was a time known as the era of "gbo" or "oge gbo" which refers to "time of no civilization". The people believed to live in this part of the world were "Nde Gbo" which literally translates to "Gbo people". The "Gbo" in this case has different tone with "Igbo" ethnic group but is completely same with the Yoruba "Igbo".

Mgbe gboo/Oge gboo would mean "ancient time" or "in the times of yore". I don't know what your definition of civilisation is.

Gbo people?
Ndi Gboo?
That would mean the people who lived in that era/time.
I don't think gbo/gboo has anything to do with a place but rather TIME.

Radoillo:

Culturally and linguistically, Igbos actually do have a lot in common with the Yorubas. This might sound strange, but as far as language goes, Igbo is more related to Yoruba than to Ijaw or Ibibio.

That is an error statement. While Igbo and Yoruba may be classified as Niger-Congo languages based on alphabet similarities, the commonality between both languages linguistically ends there, save for a few common words which I mentioned before.

Culturally, Igbo people are more related to the Ibibio than Yourba. I live in Calabar(which is an Efik town with lots of Ibibios), have had some Ibibio friends and have watched Ibibio-language movies a lot and I was shocked to see them practicing so many of our customs. That compelled me to further inquire and then I asked a good Ibibio friend of mine and he replied that his people have so many customs with the Igbo people.

Little wonder the whites could not immediately differentiate them from their nearby Ibo neighbours due to similar cultures and called them 'Qua Ibo', meaning 'like the Ibo'. 'Qua' is an English word which means 'like' or 'in similar to'. The 'Qua Iboe' or 'Kwa Ibo' was later adopted and modified to 'Akwa Ibom' during state creation. Kwa Ibo or Qua Ibo still remains in usage as can be found in the name of a river, in the popular 'Qua Iboe Church' surprisingly found only in Akwa Ibom, or in the Qua Ibo street name in Akwa Ibom and Cross River.

.

bigfrancis21:

That is an error statement. While Igbo and Yoruba may be classified as Benue-Congo languages based on alphabet similarities, the commonality between both languages linguistically ends there, save for a few common words which I mentioned before.

Culturally, Igbo people are more related to the Ibibio than Yourba. I live in Calabar(which is an Efik town with lots of Ibibios), have had some Ibibio friends and have watched Ibibio-language movies a lot and I was shocked to see them practicing so many of our customs. That compelled me to further inquire and then I asked a good Ibibio friend of mine and he replied that his people have so many customs with the Igbo people.

Little wonder the whites could not immediately differentiate them from their nearby Ibo neighbours due to similar cultures and called them 'Qua Ibo', meaning 'like the Ibo'. 'Qua' is an English word which means 'like' or 'in similar to'. The 'Qua Iboe' or 'Kwa Ibo' was later adopted and modified to 'Akwa Ibom' during state creation. Kwa Ibo or Qua Ibo still remains in usage as can be found in the name of a river, in the popular 'Qua Iboe Church' surprisingly found only in Akwa Ibom, or in the Qua Ibo street name in Akwa Ibom and Corss River.

I agree I might have overstated the cultural similarities. Yorubas and Igbos trace their descent patrilineally (except for Ohafia area where Ibibio influence was heavily felt) while Ibibios trace theirs matrilineally. The Earth cult is stronger among Yorubas and Igbos than among the Ibibios where the ancestor cult is more prominent. But I agree the Ibibios share a lot in common with the Igbos. They've been neighbours for centuries after all. Thanks for pointing that out.

I don't think 'Oua' or 'Kwa' comes from English 'like'. There's a river that runs through Ibibio land called 'Kwa river'. The name probably came from there. Kwa Ibo means Igbos who live by the Kwa (river). Initially, before linguists came their rescue, the British thought everyone who lived behind the Ijaws (Igbo and Ibibio) were all Igbo.

BTW, I remember a Yoruba guy who told me after reading Things fall Apart that apart from the fact that Yorubas have kings and royal families, and most Igbos don't, the cultures are so similar. Even the religious systems (eg.ifa/afa divination) and folktale culture (where the trickster tortoise is the main figure) are strikingly similar.

The linguistic similarities go beyond a few words, I must say. Idoma, Yoruba, Igbo, Edo, Nupe are all descended from a common language called Volta-Niger (according to Roger Blench and other language classifiers). Ibibio, Tiv, Jukun, Ogoni belong to another group, the Benue-Congo.

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kwangi: Mgbe gboo/Oge gboo would mean "ancient time" or "in the times of yore". I don't know what your definition of civilisation is.

Gbo people?
Ndi Gboo?
That would mean the people who lived in that era/time.
I don't think gbo/gboo has anything to do with a place but rather TIME.

You ended up agreeing with me. Okay let me say "Nde gbo" means "ancient people" while "oge gbo" means "ancient time". What difference does it make?

Radoillo: BTW, I remember a Yoruba guy who told me after reading Things fall Apart that apart from the fact that Yorubas have kings and royal families, and most Igbos don't, the cultures are so similar. Even the religious systems (eg.ifa/afa divination) and folktale culture (where the trickster tortoise is the main figure) are strikingly similar.

The linguistic similarities go beyond a few words, I must say. Idoma, Yoruba, Igbo, Edo, Nupe are all descended from a common language called Volta-Niger (according to Roger Blench and other language classifiers). Ibibio, Tiv, Jukun, Ogoni belong to another group, the Benue-Congo.

Only the naive are unaware of the language similarities. Even "Bia" and "Wa" arevery similar. Some Igbos use "wa" for "go". "Ka ayi wa ni" "Let us go". "Ulo" is "Ile". "Wa si ile mi" = "bia si ulo m" . "Duro" wait or sit in Yoruba is also "Duro" in many Igbo dialects at least around Imo State im aware. "Duro ngahu"= "wait there".

"Elo ni" = "Ole ni" = How much. The similarities are much but so are the differences.

Another edge of Igbo in the Cross-River area has much similarities with Cross River peoples. These include the Abiriba, Ohafia, Abam, Edda, Nkporo and all communities in that axis.

Abagworo:

You ended up agreeing with me. Okay let me say "Nde gbo" means "ancient people" while "oge gbo" means "ancient time". What difference does it make?

Sorry that I failed point out that you mostly correct.
I never meant you were totally wrong.
I just had a problem with the line; "The people who lived in that PART of the world..."
That was why I emphasised that Gbo has nothing to do with PLACE but rather about TIME.

kwangi: @Prexios.
Camouflaged Igbo words that have Yoruba tendencies?
This guy you are funny o.
You and that amor4ce guy, very deluded persons.
I've seen you guys on some thread claiming some English words to have Yoruba roots.
You make some nice contributions but you can't seem to let go of the need to assert
your culture and what not over people.

You make a very good observation brother, i will take note of that.Coming this far
is my own excesses to find out if my assumptions really hold any worth.

You are right that the idea is uncalled for. But believe it, i am not deluded,
you may not have or will be able to attain me and amo4ce kind of "delusion".

You don't suppose to take me very serious, that's why i wonder who is deluded.
i did put 'caveat emptor' to my speculations, so you will not get sentimental.
Ebenezer.

Antivirus92: Useless thread! One day hausa people will start claiming that igbo is an hausa word. We don't have anything in common with the yorubas.

You are right,
that's what we are trying to proof,
if peradventure we do or not,
Your conclusion count.

Abagworo:




Forest in some other parts is "Ikpa" while "Ozara" refers to wilderness.

Linguistically, Igbo, Edo, Igala, Yoruba and many surrounding groups developed from a parent language but one cannot ascertain which of these is closer to the parent language. So I guess the OP didn't observe anything people didn't know but he's viewing it from his ethnic point of view.

That's a very good observation, its natural to do that, who can be completely neutral? one needs to be moderately biased or see things from ones standpoint. To form a parallax, it takes calculated measure from the source to the other end that one is not too familiar with. One will ended up leaning more on one's main 'source' of information.

prexios:

You make a very good observation brother, i will take note of that.Coming this far
is my own excesses to find out if my assumptions really hold any worth.

You are right that the idea is uncalled for. But believe it, i am not deluded,
you may not have or will be able to attain me and amo4ce kind of "delusion".

You don't suppose to take me very serious, that's why i wonder who is deluded.
i did put 'caveat emptor' to my speculations, so you will not get sentimental.
Ebenezer.

How do you guys even sleep?
With the kind of hatred you peeps breed, man, I don't wish to descend to your level.

It pains me that most Igbo peeps on the thread don't know who they're talking to!
Guys, this prexios and his twin amor4ce are worse than the usual loud mouthed bigots on nairaland due to the way they push their agenda which is a 100 time more sinister,wicked!

Just pay a visit to amor4ce's wordpress blog through his profile, then you know what this dude and his twin thinks of you and why he opens threads such as this.

Slimy things!
Check this out, from the above mentioned blog.
http://yemitom./tag/igbo/

bigfrancis21:

You are making the grave mistake of assuming that because we have two similar sounding words(with different meanings) in both languages then one word must be borrowed from the other. Stop it. Among several totally distant and unrelated languages of the world today, you are bound to have similar-sounding words to be found common in several languages. For example, Ego(Pride) in English and Ego(Money) in Igbo, 'Moi'(Me) in French and 'Munwa'(Me) in Igbo, 'Bata' (come in) in Igbo and 'Bata'(a drum) in Yoruba. These are few examples, to mention a few.

However, it would be terribly wrong to assume that because of a few occurrences of similar-sounding words, not even similar-meaning words, then one language came from the other or one language borrowed the words from the other. Igbo and Yoruba languages are two totally different languages that developed at different points in history. Igbo language may have developed first. Carbon dating of Igbo-Ukwu artifacts discovered that the Igbo people have been in their present location since 900AD or 9th century,
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igbo-Ukwu


while carbon dating test done on Yoruba artifacts posits that the yoruba civilization started at around 1300AD or 13th century.
http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/yorubat/yt2.html

This is 400 years after the Igbo civilization came into existence. How then is that possible that Igbo language or words came from Yoruba as you'd have us to believe? It follows more logically that it could be the other way round.

I know several Igbo/Yoruba related words such as Nti/Eti(Igbo/Yoruba for Ear), Onu/Enu(Igbo/Yoruba for mouth), Ogwu/Ogun(charm/drug), Ozugo/Otito(Its ok/enough), Egwugwu/Egungun(masquerade), Umu/Omo(Igbo/Yoruba plural word for children. Some Igbo dialects say 'Omu') etc.

Looking at the morphology of the words above, any well-versed linguist will discover that the Igbo forms are more heavier and complex in pronunciations and spellings while the Yoruba words are simpler and lighter in pronunciation, or a mild corruption of the Igbo words, which might lead us to conclude that the Igbo words may actually be the parent root words, if we decide to tow the line of easy assumptions.

The examples above go a long way to show that the two languages must have broken off at some earlier point in the annals of time to form the two different languages of nowadays. However, we must not be in a haste to conclude using the examples above that one language birthed the other when the words may have been borrowed from one other at some point in history.

PS: it is Nwa Agbara. Not wa bara as you wrote. Agbara is the southern Igbo word for deity. In Anambra, Delta Igbo and Enugu, it is Alusi. And the Igbo words for forest are Ozala and Owere, depending on the dialect.

Research is developing each and everyday. this is our age, we have right to make bit and piece of input, it is not necessary that it ended up on Wikipedia, but it might reinforce more enlightened scholars on their own part of research.

Who come from who is not my own achievement or pursuit, my conclusions only help me make sensible contribution as i could handle the language, you are to correct my mistakes were you find one and add to my knowledge, we get talking about our similarities, differences and our history become more resourceful, in a way. Don't underestimate little ideas.

Now i am not going to be coasting on every words that comes, but i know that Agbara means something in Yoruba, "one who save his kind" the short form of this is Olugbani or Elegba.