If you want to study the ancestry of a family, you start at now and work your way backward in timeline . You will no doubt observe traits and characteristics that at first will be puzzling and void of meaning or reference to contemporary values but the farther back in the timeline your study takes you the more answers are yielded from which the puzzle can be solved and the reference firmly established. You arrive at a breakthrough and say, "aha", this ancestor is the donor for this trait and it makes perfect sense that 100yrs later the trait is still strongly visible in the generations of descendants. Do not be surprised that the household itself cannot explain why they exhibit this trait......to them, it is what they are born into and grew up doing, a passed down legacy and tradition proudly guarded.

While genetic traits and family traditions are the hooks that anchor continuity through the ascendance-descendance bloodline of a family, in a homogenous society those hooks of connectivity are in fact a set of anthroposophical values which collectively can be termed its nativity.

The nativity of Yoruba people contains at its top a sacred manuscript of nature called .Ifa. Ifa is the covenant which anchors Yoruba people to the nature of creation and humanity. Creation and its energies is a challenge for mankind, it is filled with tribulations and turmoils and mankind need a navigation matrix to help mitigate the malevolent forces that, willingly or unwillingly, he/she will eventually confront and must manage. So, Ifa is that matrix which guides the head and the head then commands the feet. In essence, whatever becomes of an individual on earth is witnessed by his/her feet. Therefore to aspire to success one's feet must be in harmony with the commanding head and the head must itself be aligned and attuned to the sacred matrix

It should be understood from the foregoing that the constitution by which a Yoruba should live is well provisioned for in the Odus that come with Ifa. The social order which the Yoruba has created for its self-government is equally intertwined with the covenants of Ifa. It is therefore easy to see that Yoruba is a Theological society, its society is structured on the principle of worship and rituals. The pinnacle of the society, the head of the Yoruba totem pole must necessarily be a Priestly King. .....a Spiritual Head first and foremost! The SpiritualHead of Yorubas is the OONI of Ife.

What is Ooni in Yoruba language?

Ooni is from the semitic root word W-N-Y. In all of my discussions in Nairaland on Yoruba words and their roots I unfailingly share with you that Yoruba is a proto-semitic tongue and is the same at its root as was old Hebrew. In old Hebrew the Yoruba OONI was spelled AWNY.

What does Awny mean? Amor4ce had discussed this here before and related the story of Jacob. I will take the pleasure to relate

Abram (known in Yoruba as Aramfe), who was renamed Abraham, gave birth to Isaac who gave birth to Jacob, who was renamed Israel, and fathered the twelve tribes of Israel, among whom was the priestly line or branch of the Levi.

Does it (Awny) mean "eternal" or "unchanging" by any chance? Just a guess.

Subscribing...

Jacob was the younger of two children by his mother, Rebekah. She called Jacob "Awny"! The other child and the elder was Esau, father of the Edomites. Through the hands of their mother, Awny usurped the birthright of the elder Esau and thus received the blessings of the father and earned the right to carry forward through his own progeny and bloodline the covenant which had passed from Noah down to Abraham and to Isaac. The covenant went down through the Levi branch and in the time of Moses, additional manuscripts were added and Aaron became the custodian of the duties of the High Priest performing duties of worship, offering and altar rituals.

Awny, which Rebekah called her son is what has passed down through the ages as a titular name for the Priestly King and which in Yorubaland today we continue to use and call Ooni.

In Yoruba consciousness Ife is the spiritual home for all of us. Ife is Levi, the tribal line of spiritual guardians that produce the High Priest.
Aaron in every respect is the Aare........the confrontational warrior but also the custodian of the altar rites.

Next we explore the meaning and root of ALAAFIN.

Interesting read - subscribing!

Physics,

I see your question and I promise to answer it. I want to hold off on answering any question until Im done with the goal of creating the narratives and possibly discussion points. Ive learnt over time that answering questions midway in a string of narratives open room for derailment of the topic. Your question will be answered first ahead of anyone else.

folklore....
Interesting though..

ALAAFIN........is the same as old Hebrew's AFYN, which is rooted in F-Y-N. What does it mean?

Before I talk about what FYN means I want readers to first notice how these root words are structured. When you rob the word of its vowels it does not loose its sense or meaning in what is left. For example, I will talk later about KABIYESI, which in old Hebrew was KABOOSIE and is rooted in K-B-S. Kaboosie is sometimes spelt with a "q" or "c" in place of the "k". If you read books detailing British first encounters with Yorubas you will see in many places where they referred to our Obas as Caboosie or Caboosier.

More later.....

This bit-by-bit suspense is getting interesting...

Dudu_Negro, I'm very much interested in this one o! Your posts and patience with me were of tremendous help in appreciating Ifa and utterly rejecting Christianity. I thank IYE (written in ancient Hebrew as EHYE) for that. By the way, Levi = Oluwo: Le- > (O)lu and -vi > -wo.

Please include "OLOFIN" and its relationship to ALAAFIN in your discourse. I wonder if the former can only be borne by Oduduwa and no other man.

If the pauses and stops in my contribution are challenging I ask that you exercise patience with me. I am providing de-crypted information to a faceless public........I must check and cross-check and in many instances have it inspected and proofed for any unintended revelations. Let's continue now......

Afyn denotes a staff or rod .symbolizing authority. For many resons ths is a very interesting one. Where does the investiture come from?

Anyway, ALAAFIN, the political flag bearer of the House of Oduduwa is, like the titular Ooni, a proto-semitic institution as well. While the Ooni is the Yoruba equivalent of a Pope - the High Priest and King, second only to God.......the Alaafin is the Emperor and derives his authority directly from the land. Of the two, only the Alaafin can be addressed as KABIYESI!

We cannot fully grasp the significance of that last statement until we understand what KABIYESI stand for.

Kabiyesi, from K-B-S, is a match word for the proto-semitic Qaboosie. It denotes the right of dominion inherent in a ruling authority and the unrestricted, unbridled power of that individual to lay foot and terror in territorial
campaigns. In other words, this individual does not yield or surrender to anyone..

This thread was opened to further the discussion on the history and cultural bearing of the Yoruba race. We see here that at the top of our social and cultural heirarchy we are tied to a past history that need indepth inspection . There is no disputing the fact that Yoruba is Afro Asiatic, but in case the above has not cemented it for you, follow me for few more steps to learn of the mysteries behind some words and cultural markers that you hear or witness often but have no idea why they are exclusively with us and no one else.

I will not burden you with over a thousand words and roots I have built up over the years but I have three very important areas of spiritual beginning I want you to contemplate on.

1. The first one of these is water, the origin of creation and sustainer of life. Science has repeatedly disputed the creation theory and replaced it with the big-bang theory........yet every space mission they ever sent into outer space, manned or robotic, has landed with the mission to find water and life; at very exhorbitant cost. So the relevance of water in the creation of life on earth is afterall valid and important. So then what is water?

In Old Testament which was written in classic Hebrew water is given the root A-M-M. From this root we get the semitic word for mother - Umm or Umma. So like water, the essence of motherhood is tied to the attributes, first , of creating life, and second, of sustaining it. The root for life is H-Y. The proto-semitic word for life is Hay or Chai.

In Yoruba water is Omi, from same root as Umm. Life is Aiye, from same root as Hay. Mother is Iya or Iye, representing her attribute for sustaining and nurturing life. The water essence is represented in Iyemoja.

2. The second one is manifested presence and willpower, represented by the root T-L which in old Hebrew is Atala. It stands for foundation or a new order or beginning. The change agent that brings security and assurance. Its essence is connected to earth and buried treasures.

In Yoruba this is called Atele - like atele owo or atele ese. It is said that the palm of the hand yields secrets about one's life treasures. From it we also get Otele - the act of walking the earth's surface. It is under the influence of Obatala.

3. The third one addresses not just those who say Yoruba is native to its present land but as well to persuade those who say the commonality of culture and language between Yoruba and say Arab or any other proto-semitic group is due to word donations resulting from religious contact and Islamic scholarship. I hope I am able to convince you contrary to that claim.

Let's look at the ritual of animal sacrifice or burnt offering to God, called Olah in old Hebrew. The corresponding root is A-L-H. They call it Aliyah and the meaning is "ascension to (or moving to) Israel".

It would appear from this that the corresponding Yoruba term, Ileya (which precisely means "it's time to go home), had been in usage and culture of the Yorubas and in connection with sacrificial offerings to God long before Islam took root on thdir land. Which home are the Yorubas referring to when they say Ileya, coild it be Israel?

I opened a topic not long ago inviting families or people who were born and grew up in Apa Tira area of Lagos to join me in discussion. Apa is used in the context of a ward or area to mean a "branch". Tira in Yoruba is Torah - the Jewish scripture of Old Testament. Apa Tira would then mean a branch or part of town occupied by the observers of Torah.. Who are the tribes of Israelite among us?.

Reading through the thread, it is obvious that the generation that left these historical markers were trying to set up a religious and political system similar to the Davidic and Solomonic era in the ancient Hebrew kingship. Otherwise, how can we explain these sheer similarities?

Tony Spike: Reading through the thread, it is obvious that the generation that left these historical markers were trying to set up a religious and political system similar to the Davidic and Solomonic era in the ancient Hebrew kingship. Otherwise, how can we explain these sheer similarities?

no it is obvious that todays generation ashamed of their culture and religions are trying to find similarities with Arab religions due to their slave mentality. .

The word "DURO" in yoruba appears in spanish and would seem to relate to portugese influence as spanish is very similar to portugesa..But i have to include that in spanish,the word Duro means tough and hard as it also evolved into english for words like "ENDURE" "DURABLE"...in Yoruba it means wait or stop or stay..In spanish,the word for wait is "esperar" and the word for stop or stay is "alto"...This stil leaves mystery to the yoruba word "DURO" until i saw program of hindu priest reading from hindu holy book of thousands of years ago...He read the word for prayer as "DUA" which reminded me of the word "DURA" as in "ADURA"= prayer in yoruba,that is too similar to be coincidence..It became interesting and linked to the word "DURO" when he described the hindu form of prayer as different from other religions as they tend to meditate or so to say "STOP","WAIT" and "STAY" the mind and body for the spirit to come forward...And prayer is the old prehistoric way of humans finding "ENDURANCE" for this sometimes "TOUGH" and "HARD" world where our own human strength cannot suffice....It leads me to a place of beliveing that yoruba words "DURO" and "ADURA" have an ancient link to a common meaning which also links to the same words and meanings as far away as India as long ago as thousands of years ago....The link between hebrew words and practices and India is also established...These are links to yoruba that predate modern english and spanish or the roman empire (or even younger christianity or Islam) that did so much to influence modern spanish,portugese and english......Yoruba is interesting language with linguistic artifacts pointing to a far more diverse history than can be found in the formal records of official Yoruba History

I was always interested in the hawaiian word for temple or house which is "HALE" and may even be modern mispronouncing and spelling of the early pacific islanders...It bears so much similarity to the word for house in yoruba "ILE" and the H added even bears resonace to the H-Y words you were describing.....I want to add that the modern word for water seems to have gone far astray from the early "OMI" genotype words...The history i found about "WATER"is from tousands years old tablet in similar script to cuneiform and it was found in TURKEY...The tablet showed the word water as three words linked "WAI","AKWA/AQUA","ITER"..Wai is the chinese and hawaiian word for water still to this day,and Akwa/Aqua is the word for water in spanish and english and other languages still today..."ITER" is related to "INTER" as to put inside..So that old text described "WAI" as the word for water ,and "AQUA" as the word to drink or swallow,and the word "INTER" as the word to put into belly...I dont know the exact age of this few thousand year old story,but i also follow and agree with your story about the word "OMI".."OKANE" is word for man in hawaii,hawaiians have a link to japan from over 3000 years of artifacts..An old japanese word for man is "OKARI"...And of course the word for man in Yoruba is "OKURIN" so very similar evan with the possible many thousands of years gap of relationship between africans and the rest of the world... Keep up the good info NEGRO...we are all learnig here..

Negro_Ntns: This thread was opened to further the discussion on the history and cultural bearing of the Yoruba race. We see here that at the top of our social and cultural heirarchy we are tied to a past history that need indepth inspection . There is no disputing the fact that Yoruba is Afro Asiatic, but in case the above has not cemented it for you, follow me for few more steps to learn of the mysteries behind some words and cultural markers that you hear or witness often but have no idea why they are exclusively with us and no one else.

I will not burden you with over a thousand words and roots I have built up over the years but I have three very important areas of spiritual beginning I want you to contemplate on.

1. The first one of these is water, the origin of creation and sustainer of life. Science has repeatedly disputed the creation theory and replaced it with the big-bang theory........yet every space mission they ever sent into outer space, manned or robotic, has landed with the mission to find water and life; at very exhorbitant cost. So the relevance of water in the creation of life on earth is afterall valid and important. So then what is water?

In Old Testament which was written in classic Hebrew water is given the root A-M-M. From this root we get the semitic word for mother - Umm or Umma. So like water, the essence of motherhood is tied to the attributes, first , of creating life, and second, of sustaining it. The root for life is H-Y. The proto-semitic word for life is Hay or Chai.

In Yoruba water is Omi, from same root as Umm. Life is Aiye, from same root as Hay. Mother is Iya or Iye, representing her attribute for sustaining and nurturing life. The water essence is represented in Iyemoja.

2. The second one is manifested presence and willpower, represented by the root T-L which in old Hebrew is Atala. It stands for foundation or a new order or beginning. The change agent that brings security and assurance. Its essence is connected to earth and buried treasures.

In Yoruba this is called Atele - like atele owo or atele ese. It is said that the palm of the hand yields secrets about one's life treasures. From it we also get Otele - the act of walking the earth's surface. It is under the influence of Obatala.

3. The third one addresses not just those who say Yoruba is native to its present land but as well to persuade those who say the commonality of culture and language between Yoruba and say Arab or any other proto-semitic group is due to word donations resulting from religious contact and Islamic scholarship. I hope I am able to convince you contrary to that claim.

Let's look at the ritual of animal sacrifice or burnt offering to God, called Olah in old Hebrew. The corresponding root is A-L-H. They call it Aliyah and the meaning is "ascension to (or moving to) Israel".

It would appear from this that the corresponding Yoruba term, Ileya (which precisely means "it's time to go home), had been in usage and culture of the Yorubas and in connection with sacrificial offerings to God long before Islam took root on thdir land. Which home are the Yorubas referring to when they say Ileya, coild it be Israel?

I opened a topic not long ago inviting families or people who were born and grew up in Apa Tira area of Lagos to join me in discussion. Apa is used in the context of a ward or area to mean a "branch". Tira in Yoruba is Torah - the Jewish scripture of Old Testament. Apa Tira would then mean a branch or part of town occupied by the observers of Torah.. Who are the tribes of Israelite among us?.

I will answer the questions and comments now.

PhysicsQED: Does it (Awny) mean "eternal" or "unchanging" by any chance? Just a guess.

I do not know what the literal translation of it is. I focused inwardly into the spirituality of the name and its significance and tie to the awakening of the consciousness. Why is it the Priest King of the Yorubas is given a title which belonged to Jacob?

I know that in Arabic grammar a sense of continuity or everlasting is represented in words by double consonants. Example - Allah. Concepts that carry a value of going forward into eternity are indicated as such by double letters . If Awny does have such quality then yeas, it's likely there is an Arabic variant of that spelling and will contain a double letter likley of the letter alif or the letter nun.

Alif with a plural diacritic and fatha vowel "AAh"
Waw (neutral) "W"
Nun with a kasra vowel "Ni"
Ya (neutral) "Y".

Or,


Alif with the fatha vowel "Ah"
Waw (neutral) "W"
Nun with a plural diacritic and kasra vowel " NNi"
Ya (neutral) "Y".

slimyem: folklore....
Interesting though..

Lol....I know you got your pen and paper taking notes. I need your voice. Write Seun and tell him topics such as this need a different repository away from the general culture section. It is without doubt cultural but it is granular and specific. There's a lot im holding back because of its openess. Will you do that? Negro flashes you a smile...:-)

These discussions are fine for speculation but there should be a separation between guesswork and linguistic scholarship. The OP wantd to use established linguistic methodology--root-word analysis, glottochronological relationships etc--but dismisses (or is unfamiliar with) all the conclusions of professional linguistics. There is lots of "disputing the fact that Yoruba is Afro-Asiatic"--the people that specialize in both Yoruba and Afro-Asiatic languages, including those that came up witth the Afro-Asiatic descriptor, do not recognize this relationship.

Facts (as far as they are known now): Yoruba is the largest member of waht used to be called the Defoid (Defoid meaning Ede Ife) branch of the west Benue-Congo languages. It has no known relationship with Afro-Asiatic/Afrasian, and this type of speculation has more to do with religious beliefs than scholarship. There are some historians, like Dierk Lange, who believe that Yoruba and Hausa share roots with Assyrian culture and Canaanite languages but they are far in the minority and aren't taken seriously by most of their fellow scholars.

The poster above who compares Hawaiian languages to Yoruba demonstrates the danger of haphazard comparisons. Okunrin and Okari are unlikely to share roots when there are no geographic or cultural commonalities to explain that connection. On the other hand, okunrin quite likely shares roots with "okoro" in Igbo, okorho in Edo and Urhobo, "Oko" again in Yoruba, all meaning young man, prince, or husband, and all likely derived from a term in the ancestral language.

I edited to add an example: The word "ubi" in Latin means "where". In standard Yoruba, people would say "ibi" for the same purpose. In Eastern Yoruba dialects, they'd use the exact same word as Latin: "ubi". Does this mean that Latin and Yoruba have the same origins or belong to the same language family? Is Yoruba now a member of the Indo-European language group? It's unlikely. There's obviously a coincidental similarity but in the absence of other evidence of exchanges--conquest, contact, intermarriage, common roots--it's likely to just be a coincidence that Latin and Yoruba have similar words. Human beings are only capable of making so many sounds, after all. When the groups are in close proximity with a likely line of descent from a common ancestor, then it would make total sense to say that Yoruba "ibi"/"ubi" is probably related to similar words in other southern Nigerian languages. The only one I know off the top of my head is "ebe" in Igbo, but I'm betting anyone who speaks Igala, Nupe, Edo etc. would find a similar term in their language.

amor4ce: Dudu_Negro, I'm very much interested in this one o! Your posts and patience with me were of tremendous help in appreciating Ifa and utterly rejecting Christianity. I thank IYE (written in ancient Hebrew as EHYE) for that. By the way, Levi = Oluwo: Le- > (O)lu and -vi > -wo.

Please include "OLOFIN" and its relationship to ALAAFIN in your discourse. I wonder if the former can only be borne by Oduduwa and no other man.

Amor4ce,

I like your interest on the Yoruba history generally and I enjoy your contributions as well , you are thorough on the subjects of worship and the roots. I have a lengthy response for you but would like to first clarify here that all the sacred manuscripts and their followership are one. Christianity came out of Judaism which came out of Ifa. You cannot accept Ifa and reject Chriatianity in its spirit but you will be correct to reject it as a religion. Christianity as a religion has become a mockery.

We will talk about Oluwo and Olofin. On the subject of Oluwo I first would like to revisit the Levi /Ife rooting. There are several roots to look at.....

L-V ............Lev (heart, core, essence, center)
L-V-D.........Leved (material, manifest)
A-V-V.........Avav (to love)
I-F-L...........Efel/Ifl (New born baby)

You can see a flow and here is the intrpretation.........the essence of Grace opens itself into manifest presence and engages in self-sacrifice which resulted in a new life and fresh beginning.

Isn't this the story of Oduduwa departing on an errand from heaven bringing with him on the drop down a staff, a bird and earth to create a new order out of the water-filled universe? Who accompanied him on the descent into Ife? lol! One is the authoriy of material command and the other is on the decree of spiritual worship.

Oduduwa commands the dominion and the manifest staff, Obatala commands the water and its spirituality. The attribute of Oduduwa is what happened when Moses threw his staff in Pharaos palace and it turned into a serpent and swallowed the court magician's serpents........it showed its dominance! On the same staff the attribute of Obatala was exhibited when Moses dipped the staff into the Red sea and it parted for their crossing.

Oluwo cannot contain Ife because Oluwo cannot exhibit all the essences which are inherent in the mysery of the single letter V. Its a powerful letter, it has all the elements of the 1-2-3 theory of God integral to it. First is god, then he self sacrifices and awakens into a new beginning and prosperity.

1 is symbolically represented by a circle, ......has no beginning or end and is forever returning
2 is a square, secured and firmly anchored in its stability but lacking growth
3 is the reward which 2 gets for entrusting itself to another and enduring the pain of going through remodelling; it is symbolized by triangle.

There can only be one Alaafin! Olofin is a sub on the root of FYN.

TerraCotta: These discussions are fine for speculation but there should be a separation between guesswork and linguistic scholarship. The OP wantd to use established linguistic methodology--root-word analysis, glottochronological relationships etc--but dismisses (or is unfamiliar with) all the conclusions of professional linguistics. There is lots of "disputing the fact that Yoruba is Afro-Asiatic"--the people that specialize in both Yoruba and Afro-Asiatic languages, including those that came up witth the Afro-Asiatic descriptor, do not recognize this relationship.

Facts (as far as they are known now): Yoruba is the largest member of the Defoid (Defoid meaning Ede Ife) branch of the west Benue-Congo languages. It has no known relationship with Afro-Asiatic/Afrasian, and this type of speculation has more to do with religious beliefs than scholarship. there are some historians, like Dierk Lange, who believe that Yoruba and Hausa share roots with Assyrian culture and Canaanite languages but they are far in the minority and aren't taken seriously by most of their fellow scholars.

The poster above who compares Hawaiian languages to Yoruba demonstrates the danger of haphazard comparisons. Okunrin and Okari are unlikely to share roots when there are no geographic or cultural commonalities to explain that connection. On the other hand, okunrin quite likely shares roots with "okoro" in Igbo, okorho in Edo and Urhobo, "Oko" again in Yoruba (and possibly Nupe?), all meaning young man, prince, or husband, and all likely derived from a term in the ancestral language of west Benue-Congo speakers.

Thank you for your view but the OP adamantly and stubbornly stands by his claim. This is an effort to decode the mysteries and bring to light what professional linguists and people like yourself have failed to do using your professional and academic tools and knowledge which is ever promoted as superior but in actuality is sub-perior.

Here are some more root words to contemplate for those interested........

B-R-K......Baaraka in both Hebrew and Arabic, meaning blessing. Barika in Yoruba as in "alubarika", which also mean blessing. Now from that same root we get Yoruba word for the knee, which is used to kneel and receive blessing....Orukun. This root or its derivatives were not a donation from Islam but its the Yoruba native tongue .. In fact in Islam the act of going on the knees is also called "ruku". In Yoruba when you put orukun to the ground, ile, it becomes "ikun'le".

Buruku in Yoruba stand for bad omen or ill-luck and as well derives from B-R-K. It makes sense! No one needs a blessing more than one experiencing a bad moment.

G-B-R / J-B-R........Gibar or Jabbar is the semitic word. It means giant or a mighty ruler. In Yoruba we call it "Ijoba" and means government or a ruling authority.


Z-K-R......Zakhar/dhakar in semitic, stands for male. This is where the male gender in Yoruba came from and we call it "Ako". Thisi for sthe male gender of any animal specie. If its human Yoruba call it "Okunrin." The cockerel, "akuko".

There is another Z-K-R with a different meaning and sense. The Yoruba "Sakara"..........as in sakara music came from this one. In Yoruba antiquity history is passed on orally through music and chants and poetry. The history and gallantry of a town and its men and women is sung in the town square.....they are praised occassionally to immortalize their contributions in the ancestral record. Ewi, Oriki, Itan and so on......all these together are called remembrance. The one word that grouped them into a class is what is called sakara. As a music genre it gained popularity because it natirally employs melody and rhythym to record Yoruba history.
In Africa generally they are called "griots", every tribe has its own way and name for it but thats what sakara in Yorubaland is and comes from the proto semitic root ZKR.

Z-K-R......Zikr/dhikr/zikar in semitic tongue and means remember or glorify through repetitions of chant words or praises .

Dudu_Negro:

Thank you for your view but the OP adamantly and stubbornly stands by his claim. This is an effort to decode the mysteries and bring to light what professional linguists and people like yourself have failed to do using your professional and academic tools and knowledge which is ever promoted as superior but in actuality is sub-perior.

No problem. Professional linguists and people like me cant have failed at anything if people like you imitate their methods and incorrectly interprete their conclusions. As I've said, you're free to believe anything you'd like about Hebrew origins and Arabic mysticisms. I've got no interest in debating that stuff with you. As long as people don't believe that your ideas and conclusions have anything to do with scholarship, professional linguists and people like me, we're good.

The biggest cultural comonality possible for a link to asia from africa does exist in ASIA...I lived in the asian area for 2 years in philippines whose original natives are called "NEGRITOS" as termed by the early spanish colonialist of philippines..They were small black people with the flat noses and also the curly and coarse hair...There are islands in the south asia/south pacific area with People who more qualify as African than any other group of people...These african implants in asia still exist today,go and do foot work in the field and see for yourself...My greatest proffesional teacher told me that his learning really began after he got his PhD and that he knows just as many bright non proffessionals as he does closed minded academically conditioned proffesionals who are more about fraternal reputation and exlusivity...Every comparison possible must be considered by any one who can consider it,for the answers come with every stone turned...Language was not invented by shcolars alone and does not evolve by shcolars alone...I take first hand experience more seriously than academic dictation of a few scholars summary of a limited overview...Please let all contribute what they consider so that we dont become closed minded in a realm of vast possibilities....Go research the negritos of philippines and the 3500 years of artifacts they have left in asia and the Negroid bloodline that still permutates through asian and pacific island peoples growth and language...Oka as in Okari also means prince or king and man in asia areas and pacific island areas also..Thanks for adding that "OKO" info, as it more so strengthens the theory that the words share common link as there is also human genetics and cultural artifacts linking negroids to asia...I will always include religious beliefs in the study of language and politics of ancient times,i do so because in those times,politics,language and religion and education were all one field to those people..How best to know them,than to try to think like them...The inventors of computer software that helps us communicate here,left the university proffessional field to get his head clear of University limitations and rise into his own considerations of software etc,and now there isnt a university that does not depend on Bill gates,steve jobs for running their establishments..Further,bill gates gets paid higher fees to lecture at universities than tenured proffessors do at the universities..its because Bill gates has the more progressive knowledge even without the degree and infact bill gates ideas are the center of what universities offer in many software oriented degrees...There are experts in the field of aeronautics who service USA military who dropped out of university to pursue independent considerations..Now they hire the PhD graduates from the universities and define the fields of study taught in Universities...The Universities know about independent thinkers and respect them as some are the worlds richest men...try to respect independant thinkers also sir...All can be mistaken,even experts,and all can come up with unique correct findings,including non academic institutional thinkers..

TerraCotta: These discussions are fine for speculation but there should be a separation between guesswork and linguistic scholarship. The OP wantd to use established linguistic methodology--root-word analysis, glottochronological relationships etc--but dismisses (or is unfamiliar with) all the conclusions of professional linguistics. There is lots of "disputing the fact that Yoruba is Afro-Asiatic"--the people that specialize in both Yoruba and Afro-Asiatic languages, including those that came up witth the Afro-Asiatic descriptor, do not recognize this relationship.

Facts (as far as they are known now): Yoruba is the largest member of the Defoid (Defoid meaning Ede Ife) branch of the west Benue-Congo languages. It has no known relationship with Afro-Asiatic/Afrasian, and this type of speculation has more to do with religious beliefs than scholarship. there are some historians, like Dierk Lange, who believe that Yoruba and Hausa share roots with Assyrian culture and Canaanite languages but they are far in the minority and aren't taken seriously by most of their fellow scholars.

The poster above who compares Hawaiian languages to Yoruba demonstrates the danger of haphazard comparisons. Okunrin and Okari are unlikely to share roots when there are no geographic or cultural commonalities to explain that connection. On the other hand, okunrin quite likely shares roots with "okoro" in Igbo, okorho in Edo and Urhobo, "Oko" again in Yoruba (and possibly Nupe?), all meaning young man, prince, or husband, and all likely derived from a term in the ancestral language of west Benue-Congo speakers.

Terra Cotta,

How can you know what is factual and what is falsehood when you have refused to open yourself to the totality of Yoruba history and origin or the decoding of the meanings behind the words and letters outside of what you were taught in classroom?

Linguistic is not language but rather it is the study of the evolution of language. The root methodology of analysing a tongue was made possible so humanity can benefit from the study and it is left open for further development and creativity. When dumbos like you say the use of a methodology should be exclusive to only the practitioners in the field it says a lot about your understanding of why you even went to school to begin with. Academic work is for progress and not for ego attachment. My use of the root methodolojgy is beneficial because many people can read this thread and undrstand what they did not understand before .

Your linguistic profession and academic laurel is useless to the people in NL if you are not teachibg us what you know and improving our awareness. So I challenge you to serve this community by bringing us your own independent knowledge on the area of language and culture.

19naia: The biggest cultural comonality possible for a link to asia from africa does exist in ASIA...I lived in the asian area for 2 years in philippines whose original natives are called "NEGRITOS" as termed by the early spanish colonialist of philippines..They were small black people with the flat noses and also the curly and coarse hair...There are islands in the south asia/south pacific area with People who more qualify as African than any other group of people...These african implants in asia still exist today,go and do foot work in the field and see for yourself...My greatest proffesional teacher told me that his learning really began after he got his PhD and that he knows just as many bright non proffessionals as he does closed minded academically conditioned proffesionals who are more about fraternal reputation and exlusivity...Every comparison possible must be considered by any one who can consider it,for the answers come with every stone turned...Language was not invented by shcolars alone and does not evolve by shcolars alone...I take first hand experience more seriously than academic dictation of a few scholars summary of a limited overview...Please let all contribute what they consider so that we dont become closed minded in a realm of vast possibilities....Go research the negritos of philippines and the 3500 years of artifacts they have left in asia and the Negroid bloodline that still permutates through asian and pacific island peoples growth and language...Oka as in Okari also means prince or king and man in asia areas and pacific island areas also..Thanks for adding that "OKO" info, as it more so strengthens the theory that the words share common link as there is also human genetics and cultural artifacts linking negroids to asia...

Naia,

The dude, terra cotta, is a dummy. He is literate but uneducated and it is exhibited in his comments. He ha a tradition of speaking through his ego, instead of his heart. He self-glorifies in his dead end profession.

Good line of thinking DUDU...I replied above about how the very computer we use to cover this topic, is a product in part of men who dropped out of college to have time to think and develop their own ideas..Now the universities use their inventions and intelectual property as the center of their software oriented degrees..And further,they pay bill gate more money to lecture at university than the highest paid tenured proffessors there...The truth of universities is that they respect independant thinkers and know that much progress in knowledge comes from people who like to think,and not the academic institution...

Dudu_Negro: Terra Cotta,

How can you know what is factual and what is falsehood when you have refused to open yourself to the totality of Yoruba history and origin or the decoding of the meanings behind the words and letters outside of what you were taught in classroom?

Linguistic is not language but rather it is the study of the evolution of language. The root methodology of analysing a tongue was made possible so humanity can benefit from the study and it is left open for further development and creativity. When dumbos like you say the use of a methodology should be exclusive to only the practitioners in the field it says a lot about your understanding of why you even went to school to begin with. Academic work is for progress and not for ego attachment. My use of the root methodolojgy is beneficial because many people can read this thread and undrstand what they did not understand before .

Your linguistic profession and academic laurel is useless to the people in NL if you are not teachibg us what you know and improving our awareness. So I challenge you to serve this community by bringing us your own independent knowledge on the area of language and culture.

19naia: Good line of thinking DUDU...I replied above about how the very computer we use to cover this topic, is a product in part of men who dropped out of college to have time to think and develop their own ideas..Now the universities use their inventions and intelectual property as the center of their software oriented degrees..And further,they pay bill gate more money to lecture at university than the highest paid tenured proffessors there...The truth of universities is that they respect independant thinkers and know that much progress in knowledge comes from people who like to think,and not the academic institution...

I agree completely wih both of your posts. Naturally smart people recognize that univerity education is desirable but they do not view it as a replacement or substitution to their intellect, intuition and emotion, only a retard will get a degree and stop thinking and improving. I dont throw my background and knowledge around , my interest in Yoruba originand histrory grew when couple of years ago working on a telecomms project I had to visit power companies in several states in US. My contact in Alabama took me on a tour of their building. In one hallway there were pictures of the building from different angles and there was this picture of the rooftop with a statue of Sango cast in bronze and complete with his ose(staff) raised to the sky. I was shocked!! He had no idea who Sango was........it was explained to him that this was the statue of the Greek god of thunder. I am a telecomms engineer and had dismissed the significance of Sango in my own motherland, seeing him erected on a skyscraperin America and then falsified as a Greek god changed my view about Yoruba. It brought me a new dimension and curiosity. My curiosity has changed me and my contribution is to help change some more people. Some of what we call art are actually tablets .......piece of wood, ivory or brass engraved with messages for tbe future.

It is unfortunate we have people like terracotta who proclaim to be linguists but yet missed the mark on decoding these important messages.

19naia: Good line of thinking DUDU...I replied above about how the very computer we use to cover this topic, is a product in part of men who dropped out of college to have time to think and develop their own ideas..Now the universities use their inventions and intelectual property as the center of their software oriented degrees..And further,they pay bill gate more money to lecture at university than the highest paid tenured proffessors there...The truth of universities is that they respect independant thinkers and know that much progress in knowledge comes from people who like to think,and not the academic institution...

I agree completely wih both of your posts. Naturally smart people recognize that univerity education is desirable but they do not view it as a replacement or substitution to their intellect, intuition and emotion, only a retard will get a degree and stop thinking and improving. I dont throw my background and knowledge around , my interest in Yoruba originand histrory grew when couple of years ago working on a telecomms project I had to visit power companies in several states in US. My contact in Alabama took me on a tour of their building. In one hallway there were pictures of the building from different angles and there was this picture of the rooftop with a statue of Sango cast in bronze and complete with his ose(staff) raised to the sky. I was shocked!! He had no idea who Sango was........it was explained to him that this was the statue of the Greek god of thunder. I am a telecomms engineer and had dismissed the significance of Sango in my own motherland, seeing him erected on a skyscraperin America and then falsified as a Greek god changed my view about Yoruba. It brought me a new dimension and curiosity. My curiosity has changed me and my contribution is to help change some more people. Some of what we call art are actually tablets .......piece of wood, ivory or brass engraved with messages for tbe future.

It is unfortunate we have people like terracotta who proclaim to be linguists but yet missed the mark on decoding these important messages.