NeuroBoss:
Please, I have a manuscript that requires typing letters with the tonal marks. I will be very glad if there is a way to do this other than change the language on my system.
Please, I need a software or keyboard built directly to solve this problem. Thanks!

Goto this link, download the latest version, and follow the instructions:
https://apps.carleton.edu/its/flt/languagespecific/USIntlExtended/

GentleToks:

In response to the one u chose to believe.
The write up does not make sense from d beginning to the end. Why trying to alter what is unalterable? If slave merchants used Onye Ibo as derogatory remark in reference to hardworking Ibo slaves, how come the same derogatory words are being used against the same white slave merchants who used the same derogatory words on their slaves? It didn't even hard up in the first place. How could ""On""-ye Ibo be called Oyinbo?
As usual, you come up with this meaningless assertion to sell to d gullible ones to buy and funny enough, few have bought it already. Chaiii!!!!.......
How come there is no slavery book that has ever made reference to this Onye - Ibo? As at 13/03/2015, white people are still being called Oyinbo in Nigeria and they(the ones in the country) have never seen it as derogatory words.
Finally, my Family name is "FATOYINBO"(OYINBO) and this name was given to my progenitor cos he is xtremely fair in complexion (very fair in skin colour).
N.B Right from genesis, Igbos have always called white people Onye Ocha, how has Onye Ocha transcend to Oyinbo.

FATOYINBO has nothing to do with “Oyinbo”.
FATOYINBO is a contraction of Ifa to yin (praise), bo (peel off) ni ete (lips). That is, Ifa is so great, that you will praise it, till your lips peel off.

In the Yoruba Language:
Oyinbo = oyin (bee | honey | melanin) + bo (bleach | peel off). Oyinbo means lack of melanin.

The color of native honey is as dark as Melanin.

In Yoruba Ibadan dialect, Oyinbo is shortened to eebo

In the Yoruba Language:
Oyinbo = oyin (bee | honey | melanin) + bo (bleach | peel off). Oyinbo means lack of melanin.

The color of native honey is as dark as Melanin.

In Yoruba Ibadan dialect, Oyinbo is shortened to eebo

macof:


Beautiful, just beautiful. Thank you very much for this brilliant piece not the pseudo-Yoruba history we have people posting here and claiming authority.

If only we had more of u on the culture section

Macof,

Here is an interesting article w.r.t ILE-IFẸ from Ijọ (Izon/Ijaw) perspective.

http://www.ijawdictionary.com/menu/TheIjoGenesis.pdf

How could the name "Yoruba" be of Hausa origin? Let's give Samuel Johnson a break. He was away for a while due to slavery, and despite the circumstances, he did the best he could do. Some of his mistakes in "The History of Yorubas" were not intentional. What of the 21st Century historians we have today, what kind of archeological research are they doing, and what are their references?

Hausa called Ọyọ Ile, Katunga. Hausa would definitely call the the people of katunga, Katunga-bawan. How did that then change to Yoru-bawan (Yoruba)? Even the often quoted Sultan Bello of the Sokoto Caliphate would not explain that.

Yoruba people were known as ANAGO, from the ANAGO language we speak. Mali and Ọyọ Empires were contemporaries, and they had diplomatic relationship. And it was from Mali, that the name "Yoruba" was first used to refer to ANAGO people. As an ethnic description, the word "Yoruba" appeared in treatise written by the Great Songhai scholar, Ahmed Baba, in the 1500s, that refers to people that speaks ANAGO and its dialects.

An ethnic group is usually known by what its neighbors call them. Germans don't call themselves German, but that is what their neighbors call them. And Chinese don't call themselves Chinese, but that is what outsiders call them. Same with Finland (Suomi), Hungary (Magyar) and Japan (Nippon).

At a much later date, the "Yoruba" name filtered to the Fulani, and to the Hausa, to the Europeans and to the rest of the world.

It was through Mali, that Yoruba first encountered Islam and muslims. That was why Yoruba called Islam "ẹsin imale" (religion from mali) and a muslim is called "imale" till today. It is because of muslim fanaticism that Yoruba now call Islam "ẹsin imọle" (fanatical religion). Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS/ISIL, Salafist jihadists, Wahhabism are case in point.

Yoruba were excellent traders. Ọyọ traders were all over, and were nicknamed the "Jews of Africa" (no pun intended). Their remnants, scattered all over Africa, could count (owo ẹyọ) into millions. I would love to know how they were recording those transactions. I hope i still have the genes of these computing geniuses. Our historians need to go to the Library in Timbuktu and translate many of the manuscripts w.r.t Yoruba (Ọyọ), for posterity, instead of "attaching" Yoruba history to the biblical/semitic crap. Garbage in, Garbage out.

The question then is what is the meaning of "Yoruba"? People are usually known by something distinctive about them. A Yoruba returnee group, that settled down in Liberia and Senegambia areas, are known as the "AKU". Yoruba have greetings for everything, and each greeting starts with "Ẹ Ku / A Ku". As a result, their neighbors named the Yoruba returnees, AKU, because they always say "A KU" every time. And the name stuck. Yoruba and their greetings, embedded in their DNA. Yoruba call themselves "ọmọ karọ-ojire", because of their greetings.

Our Ndigbo neighbors nicknamed us N-GBATI (when) because we say that a lot.

To "stand your ground", to "draw the line in the sand" when push comes to shove, YORUBA would say "yo ba iya ẹ", "yo ba baba ẹ", "yo ba ipọnrinpọngba ẹ", "yo ba idile yin", e.t.c. From this common saying, was how the name "Yo(ru)ba"was coined, and it became synonymous with these Great People, of the Great Empire of ỌYỌ AJAKA.

Ọyọ Ile, itself, was derived from "ibi tio yọ" (slippery place). Ọyọ Ile is not the same with Agọ Ọja (present ọyọ). They are as different as night and day.

The Yoruba of today is 180 degrees, out of phase, with the Yoruba of old.

Jenny8025:
Hi there,
I'm half yoruba half german and unfortunately i cant speak yoruba. I just know some few things and i want to get a tattoo with some birds and a yoruba Word that suits to the Symbol of birds. Can someone help me out with a yoruba word that has a nice meaning and still somehow fits to birds? I thought about omìnìra or ifokan bale but still not sure...

Jenny,

You can use any of these symbols:

Adaba -- dove
Aṣa -- hawk
Ẹyẹ -- Birds

nikkflexible:
YORUBA PEOPLE CAN KILL U WITH GREETINGS!
You see them in the morning,
5-6am.. E ku idaji o
6-10... E kaaro o
10-12.. E ku Iyaleta o
Afternoon, 12- 3pm... E kasan o
4-6pm... E ku irole o
Night, 6-7pm... E ku asale 0
8-12 pm... E kale o
12am -3am..... E yin osoronga, eku meeting o.
All manners of greetings:
+Hunters ... Arin pa o
+Drivers .... Oko a refo oo
+Drummers ... Alula o
+Nursing mothers . .... E ku owo lomi o
+Meet them at ATM ... E ku ATM o
+Meet them sitting
down.... E ku ijoko o
+Meet them eating ... Ata oni sapa yin lori o!
+Entering a friends house... Alafia fun yin
+In d hairdressing saloon...e ku ewa o
+Bomb blast.....a ku oro boko haram yii o
+ebola...a ma ku oro ebola yii o
person die......several greetings
person travel come.....e ku irin oo
harmattan...e ku oye yii o
heat period....e ku oooru yii o
Hanhan...Na wa o... Toor, everybody "E KU NAIRALAND OOO"
Lol

Am proud to be a yoruba lady sha cos we are d most respectful

Nikki, Nikki, ọmọ akẹ ni ẹ
12am - 3am ..... E yin osoronga, eku meeting. Bawo lo ṣe mọ?
Meet them at ATM ... E ku ATM o. Mi o le rẹrin o

Being a Yoruba is a privilege, and not a right.

sukkot:
you are a very big liar. antares is a star and not a sun and it is called the anti-mars star and it is very tiny compared to the sun. extremely tiny. dont come here to deceive people. we live in a geocentric universe meaning the earth is the center of the universe and the only habitable planet and the other celestial bodies are simply used as energy storage or as signs to give messages for times and seasons for example mars represents war, saturn represents harvest pluto represents the dead etc etc etc

Sukkot,

What is the difference between a Star and a Sun? The Earth is the center of the Universe ....? I don't take you serious with your write up. I assume that you're being Sarcastic.

CFCfan:

Who is that, please?

Growing up in naija, the old man was the #1 fan of the club.

What of Baba Ẹlẹran? How can someone talk of the Shooting Stars FC without not mentioning his name? Haha! Haba!

@ maclatunji:

The thing is Islam pre-dates idolatory. It is a fact that idolators do recognise the Supreme Being. However, they raise associates (idols) which they (wrongly) ascribe to Him.

Hence, finding idolators copying the Ka'aba is expected.

Your above argument is so weak, it is full of wishful thinking. How do you know that Islam predates idolatory?

In ancient Arabia, the sun-god was viewed as a female goddess and the moon as the male god, Allah. Allah, the moon god, was married to the sun goddess and they both had three daughters. These daughters of Allah, who became goddesses, were called Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat.

The daughters of Allah, along with Allah and the sun goddess were viewed as "high" gods, placed at the top of the pantheon of Arabian deities.

The Quraysh tribe into which Mohammad was born was particularly devoted to Allah, the moon god, and especially to Allah's three daughters who were viewed as intercessors between the people and Allah.

The name of Muhammad's father was Abd-Allah. His uncle's name was Obied-Allah. These names reveal the personal devotion that Muhammad's pagan family had to the worship of Allah, the moon god. =>> like “Ogun” in Ogunṣina

The moon god, Allah, was set up at the Kaaba along with all the other idols of the time. The pagans prayed towards Mecca and the Kaaba because that's where their gods and goddesses were located.

Do you know why the symbol of Islam is “the crescent moon and the star”? Because they represent the moon and the morning star, the planet Venus. These are two of the 360 deities of Arabia.

@ PAGAN 9JA:

I HAVE BEEN TO SAUDI ARABIA AND THESE PLACES! I KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON THERE! I KNOW A MEMBER OF THE AL-SAUD ROYAL FAMILY WHO HAS HAD ACCESS INSIDE THE KAABA!

I never knew you're this gullible. What were you expecting your so called friend to tell you? Divulge to you a state secret because of who you are? Think! Think! Think!

Why don't you use the same Saudi contact to personally gain access to Kaaba? Well, I can assure you that you will be beheaded and you surely know that.

@ belltwelve:

Interesting. It is possible. After all, Igbo words also has great similarities with Japanese words. Check out thess findings by Igbodefender.com
Source: http://www.igbodefender.com/blog/2012/07/25/interesting-similarities-of-the-spellings-of-igbo-and-anglicized-japanese-words/

If you were to compare any two languages, you 'll see tons of words that sound similar. But do they mean the same thing? Most of the list you provided do not have the same meaning. We have "Ẹdo" among Bini, and there is "Ẹdo" in Japan. Do they mean the same thing? I don't think so. The key is the "meaning" behind similar sounding words/name places.

Ohba- Japanese surname
Obah- Igbo surname (Oba is also an ancient Igbo royal title: one of the titles of the Anioma kings during the Moremi era was Oba Igbo)

The Igbo during the Mọremi saga are the Ugbo-Ilajẹ. They were originally in Ile-ifẹ before the "palace coup" forced them out to the riverine areas of the present day Yorubaland. It had nothing to do with "Anioma kings". Ugbo-Ilajẹ does not appreciate its history being usurped.

babaowo: Yoruba tribes migrated from saudi arabia,when there is war to chase out all idolatory....... that's fact!

The Saudi's idols are still there. The Kaaba is the repository of these idols and the pre-eminent idol is the Black Stone at Kaaba. As a muslim, you will bow down to kiss this baba dudu stone. Is that not "idol" worshiping?

This is a meteorite that fell from the sky, which the Arabs had been worshiping ever since, hundreds of years before Muhammad was born. Arabs, among others, preserve their idols but are telling you to get rid of yours. Who is mumu? Japanese, Chinese & Koreans are too smart for that.

By the way, the Russians are now selling their meteorites, same Black Stone, just fell from the sky some weeks ago. Fresh, 21st century Kaaba quality. Would that not be a personal one to have instead of the saliva galore one at Kaaba?

Religion is the cocaine of the ignorant. Unfortunately, many of whom are the educated blacks.

PAGAN 9JA:

I HAVE SPOKEN TO THE CHIEF BABALAWO OF LAGOS AND HE HAS CLEARLY STATED THAT ODUDUA DID NOT COME FROM MECCA AND ANYONE SPREADING SUCH LIES SHOULD BE PUNISHED!

PAGAN 9JA, the next time you meet Chief Babalawo of Lagos, make sure you ask for the meaning of ADO IWA

Days of the week in Yoruba:
AIKU - sunday
AJE - monday
IṢẸGUN - tuesday
ỌJỌRU - wednesday
ỌJỌBỌ - thursday
ẸTI - friday
ABAMẸTA - saturday

Yoruba word for “disease” is ARUN not Amodi
Yoruba word for “lamp” is ATUPA not fitila
Yoruba word for “the poor” is AKUṢẸ not talaka

Yoruba word for “sky” is OFURUFU not sanmo
Yoruba word for “pen” is GEGE not kalamu

Dudu_Negro: ......please leave ice age out of this, it has nothing to do with what we are talking about. this topic is on the verge of derailment if it hasn't already happened.

where is op?

This is Red Herring!!!!

You were in a rush to respond without thinking through, which shows a lack of deep thought process.

You have not provided the Yoruba text to back up your theory. Playing devil’s advocate, even a cave man will agree that climatic condition is never constant over the length of time you are suggesting.

How well we know what a profitable superstition this fable of Christ has been for us.
~ Pope Leo X

The original name of "Jesus Christ" is Yehoshua Ben Joseph

The "Christ" is the Hellenized corruption of Krishna, the black one. The earlier images of "Jesus & Mary" were of Jet Black in complexion.

@ Dudu_Negro:

As you can see here is Araba, in company of Ooni narrating a story of the origin and using references to a desert and mountainous landscape. There is no desert or mountain in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. This story is not their invention....it passed down from Ooni to Ooni, from Araba to Araba. This was a narrative of a people who at one time lived near a desert plain bordered on one end by a mountainous range and on the other by a sea.

This narration is consistent with the discovery that Yoruba is Kanaan. With that it should not be a wonder that Yoruba share rites and language with that area, outside of a much later entry by islam.

You have to be careful of the translations. Why don’t you provide the original text in Yoruba to compare and contrast?

Moreover, the climate and the landscape before and during the last Ice Age were totally different to what you have right now. The desert areas of today were at that time, rainforests. And the sea level was much lower than now.

Dudu_Negro:

....but Araba and Ooni are narrating Yoruba myths, so bible has nothing to do with that. in their narration they are describing a landscape consistent with arabian peninsula, not a tropical forest. how do we explain this?

http://orishada.com/wordpress/?m=201109
According to Ile-Ifẹ tradition, Ọranfẹ and Obarese descended from heaven at the same time. They descended to Iloya with chain like other Oriṣa. Obarese was a powerful man during his time on earth and had many magical elements at his disposal. Ọranfẹ is Obasere's older brother. Because of his power, Ọranfẹ wanted Obarese to leave his domain. Ọranfẹ has ara (thunder) and is the first God that had the power where fire could come out from his mouth. Obarese can cause rain to fall whenever he wants.

Ifa was consulted, and Ọranfẹ told Obarese that he is to have a wife. Ọranfẹ then slapped the rib of Obarese and changed the rib into a woman. The name of the woman is Osere. sounds familiar??

Dudu_Negro: Here is from Araba of Ife, reciting oral history of Yoruba to John Wyndham and in the presence of Ooni of Ife. I do hope you know what "Araba" stand for in Yorubaland.



As you can see here is Araba, in company of Ooni narrating a story of the origin and using references to a desert and mountainous landscape. There is no desert or mountain in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. This story is not their invention....it passed down from Ooni to Ooni, from Araba to Araba. This was a narrative of a people who at one time lived near a desert plain bordered on one end by a mountainous range and on the other by a sea.

This narration is consistent with the discovery that Yoruba is Kanaan. With that it should not be a wonder that Yoruba share rites and language with that area, outside of a much later entry by islam.

What you posted is part of Yoruba myth of creation. The Oriṣa were on earth prior to human beings.

Bible is fabrication of other peoples' myth and you will see aspects of that in the following link. Here is what the descendants of the Araba say about Ọranfẹ and the archaeological evidence is still there in Ile Ife:
http://orishada.com/wordpress/?m=201109

@ Dudu_Negro:

if salvation of man is in his own hands, then this clearly is a functional aspect of his relationship with other life forces in his environment. through his interaction and journey through life he is able to score points towards salvation by toeing the commandments of social living. he is not absolute but rather an active participant in the credits he earns while living. this clearly negates the principle of your earlier interpretation of orunmila. you are using conceptual imagery to give meaning to functional rites. that's inconsistent and incompatible.

also, if your definition of orunmila is anything to take seriously, then why does man even bother to do good? whats the need for omoluabi when all your good deeds may end up of no profit if you are in the rank of those who. orunmila has condemned?

baba elebuibon is a well respected babalawo and im not sure you are doing justice to what he intended in his teachings.

there are yorubas who dont believe the race has foreign roots. i dont know which camp baba elebuibon belongs but i do know that those who favor ile ife as the native land have a penchant for giving conceptual interpretations to the words and terms in yoruba.

You are now the self-styled authority on "conceptual interpretations" of Yoruba worldview. O ga o.

You are an educated christian that lack that deep thought process, which is typical. Your mumbo-jumbo write up is full of wishful thinking.

If you know the true history of Christianity, you will be ashamed being a Christian. The same applies to Islam since Islam came out of Christianity.
Are you saying that you don’t know the right from wrong? Do you need guidance from the Church/Bible on that? Rather, look within. It is embedded in every culture.

Thus, knowing the right from wrong but perpetrating evilness means “you reap what you sow”. Thousands of Jesus Christ + Yahweh/Jehovah will not save you.

ODUA_NEGRO:

you are not studying, you are reading into Ifa. If you study Ifa some of what i already explained in the primordial tongue will be revealed to you.

again, you are applying conceptual reasoning to illustrate the meaning of Orunmila. By your interpretation you are saying that mankind has no contributions in his own redemption, it is a predetermined conclusion by heaven who is saved and who is condemned.

the supreme character is not something modeled by God himself, since we are talking about habits and actions and demeanor, they have to be modeled......there is an awakener, a teacher who exhibits these codes of character to lead the way, to set the omoluabi example. who was this divine character, the manifest of the supreme code of behavior, does he have a name?

Here is a link to confirm the meaning of Ọrunmila by a well known Babalawo, Yẹmi Ẹlẹbuibọn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=lCLn67i62jY#t=138s

Ifa says a man's salvation is in his hands, based on his deeds on earth. One must have iwapẹlẹ in order to be an ọmọluabi. There is no forgiveness of sins. Nobody came to die for your sins. You reap what you sow. Ko si ohun aṣegbe la'ye. Aye l'ọja, ọrun ni ile.

The supreme character is Ifa. Ifa represents the wisdom energy of Eledumare. Ifa is spiritually manifested as Ẹla, and physically manifested as Ọrunmila.

Ọmọluabi has nothing to do with Noah.

@ ODUA_NEGRO:

Ifa cannot possibly tell you that adura is made up of the two components, ado and iwa. this breakdown is what you ascribe to adura and its because you believed, outside of any other reasonable explanation, that a concept of prayer exist in ado and iwa.

Ifa is the repository of everything Yoruba. It is our "alpha and omega". Without ifa, there is no Yoruba or its sub-groups. Gbabẹẹ!!!!

Ọrunmila is a contraction of “ọrun ni o mọ ẹni tio ma la” =>> it is heaven that knows who shall be saved
Ọmọluabi is a contraction of “ọmọ ti olu iwa bi” =>> personification of supreme character/divine existence

@ plaetton:

You are asking intelligent questions. Only someone with a deep thought process can appreciate that.

Language is expressed using words and words are powerful. To express that differently, words are animations and contain lifeforce. So the power of duality and divine manifestation also exist in words. The first word in the beginning of creation was "-M-", this was followed by "-D-".

"M" is that lifeforce which contains all essences (Grace) of the feminine qualities and is rooted in the sea or water of creation or the reproductive energy or the maternal elements or the womb or the opener of a path (awakener). Think of "yMy"; "oM" or "uM"; "Ma"; "Mn".....and so on. It has a positive polarity and a negative polarity.

" D " is the lifeforce relating to masculine vigour (GRANDEUR) of the masculine energy and this is symbolized by earth, security, order, safety, preservation and survival. Words like "Du"; "aD"; "Da"...and so on. There is positive and negative polarities to it.

When the two original words are combined you get "DM", from here you get the original man "aDaM" (Adimu in Yoruba); from whom the essence of "M" (life or eMi in Yoruba) was extracted to reproduce Eve (Efe or Ife in Yoruba).

"eDuMare" in Yoruba is also from the root "DM". In fact, Edumare is GOD manifest, the GOD that is with us in duality. Eledumare is GOD infite, the GOD in His ONENESS and away from us. Eledumare is the owner or the one a step above Edumare.

I want to keep this short and simple and so I will say here that DUro, DUrable, enDUrance, DUst, DUll, inDUstry, ...all have associations with earth (terra) or something present, firm and established.

Are you really serious with the above quotation?

ODUA_NEGRO:

i think you are using conceptual approach to explain the etymology of adura. yes yoruba is tonal but it is not a conceptual language. it is an applied (functional) language. european languages are conceptual.

Can you then tell us the meaning of Adura? Ifa is my source. What is yours?

ODUA_NEGRO:

So what is "Ado"?

Yoruba is a tonal language. The "Ado" in adura is the container of Aṣẹ (divine force) of existence. Ado also means settled down (settlement) which is a contraction of "ibi ti a tii duro"