IGBO:THE LANGUAGE

Sources:
• THE EMPIRE OF THE EBOES (IBOES, IGBOES, EGBOES) written by *Dr. Africanus Beale Horton James*¹ 1868

• AMONGST THE IBOS OF NIGERIA written by *George T. BADSEN* in 1921


• THE LIFE OF OLAUDAH EQUIANO OR GUSTAVUS VASSA THE AFRICAN written by *Olaudah Equiano*² 1837

• Bible KJV Concordances and Strongs

Points to note:
¹ Dr. Africanus Beale Horton James is a staff assistant surgeon. His native homeland is Sierra Leone. He is also a descent of an Igbo slave.

²: Olaudah Equiano is a freed Igbo slave whose homeland is situated in the present day Isseke, Ihiala LGA, Anambra state. In the Igbo tongue, *Ola* means *Wealth* and *UDAH/UDA* means *Loud*. You can juxtapose these with his statement which says *I was named Olaudah, which in our language signifies vicissitude, or fortunate ; also, one favored, and having a loud voice and well spoken...*(page 23 of Olaudah autobiography).


Keywords: Eboes, Egboes, Igboes, Igbos, Hebrew. *The first three keywords are just corruption of the original word IGBO*

It's of no doubts that the culture of the Igbos is Hebraic mixed with paganism. Horton concluded that the act of paganism was actually adopted by the Igbos due to constant fleeing and immigration from the mohameddians thereby imitating the culture of their host communities. Dr Horton confirmed this in his book which says;
��...the Israelitish descendants, or the inhabitants
occupying the central portion of Africa, passed forward, seeking
shelter to the south and west; a part, namely those from the east
central, crossing the Binue or Joliba branch of the Niger, descended
gradually southward, and became intermingled with the original inhabitants. Protected from incursion on the north by the Binue
River, and quietly settled between the Great Niger and Old Kalabar
Rivers, they remained in peace, and grew from one generation to
another in idolatry, but still leaving tangible proofs in the form of
their religion of the Judaistic origin of the inhabitants...��. One must concur that if they migrated from the middle East, they must have passed Egypt to Central Africa. Due to this migrations, they imitated and adopted the pagan culture of their host communities.
After this slight digression, we will now proceed to investigate more
particulars relative to the tribe( _Igbo_ )under consideration.
From the book THE EMPIRE OF THE EBOES(IBOES, IGBOES, EGBOES) written by Dr. Africanus, it says *The language,
or the little of it that is known, is full of Hebraisms ; the constructions of sentences, the verbal significations, the mode of comparison,
are all typical of the Hebrew. Like the Hebrew, from a single root
of verbs and other elementary parts of speech, substantives, adjectives
and adverbs are formed; and of the declension of nouns, the Rev.
J. F. Schon, Linguist to the Church Missionary Society, whilst
writing of the cases, said there are none in the sense they appear in
Latin, and consequently there are no declensions; but there are
cases in the sense ‘ in which it is applied in the Hebrew language—
namely, that form of nouns to which are appended or suflixed the
attributive or possessive pronoun*
I found Horton's claim a _truism_ when I read George T Badsen's book. He wrote in his book titled AMONGST THE IBOS OF NIGERIA(1921), *...the language also bears several interesting parallels with the Hebrew idiom...* See page 31.
Let's point out an example. For instance, we take the word *EYE*. What's *EYE* in the Paleo Hebrew writing?
Referencing _Bible KJV Concordances and Strongs_;



*EYE*

•Hebrew: *עין*
��Transliteration: *‛ayin*
��Pronunciation: *Ah-yin*
Definition: Probably a primitive word; an eye (literally or figuratively); by analogy a fountain (as the eye of the landscape): - {affliction} outward {appearance} + {before} + think {best} {colour} {conceit} + be {content}{countenance} + {displease} eye ({[-brow]} {[-d]} {-sight}) {face} + {favour}{fountain} furrow [from the {margin]} X {him} + {humble} {knowledge} {look} (+ {well}) X {me} open ({-ly}) + (not) {please} {presence} + {regard} {resemblance} {sight} X {thee} X{them} + {think} X {us} {well} X you (-rselves).
•KJV Usage: eye (495x), sight (216x),seem (19x),colour (12x),fountain (11X),well (11x),face (10x),pleased (with H3190) (10x), presence (8x), displeased (with H3415) (8x), before (8x), pleased (with H3474) (4x), conceit (4x), think (4x), misc (66x).
Occurs: 888
In verses: 830


Note: *Transliteration* is the act or product of transliterating, or of representing letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script.

Let's pick two African languages here and juxtapose it with the Hebrew.

•Hebrew for *Eye* is *Ayin*(pronunciation: Ah-yin)
•Ibiobio for *Eye* is *Ayin*(pronunciation: Ah-yin)
•Igbo for *Eye* is *Anya*(pronunciation: Ah-ya)

These three languages are related. I concur with Horton's claim about the relationship between the Igbo language, Ibiobio language and Dwalla language. He said in his book titled THE EMPIRE OF THE EBOES(IBOES, IGBOES, EGBOES)1868, page 174;
"...even the language spoken in *Old
Calabar and Dwalla is derived from the great family of Egboe(corruption of Igbo)*, only
far removed. Oru, Brass, Bonny, Okrika, and Andoney bear
dialectic affinity to Isuama Egboe, and are derived from the same
root..."

Nne hv thru all ur post nd seem to be a historian . i want u to be my friend, recommend some history for me nd all that. I am an Engineer but lover nd reader of African history, plz chat me on whatsapp via 07035811327 or drop any of u social media handle