Is isi-agụ the right name for this cloth material that is associated with the Igbos?

Yes, isi-agụ is its correct name but what is on the cloth is isi ọdụm (lion's head), not isi agụ (leopard's head)

Does that nullify the name? No.

Is it the first time a wrong name has been given to something in Igbo, English, Latin, etc? No.

The people who named this cloth mistakenly called it isi-agụ. But that wrong name has become its name. It can't be changed soon. It does not even matter anymore.

It is that mistake that contributed to the confusion many Igbos who are under 50 have over which animal is agụ and which one is ọdụm.

Ọdụm is lion.

Agụ is leopard.

That is why we say: Ọdụm na-egbu agụ (the lion that kills the leopard). That is why God is called Ọdụm nke ebo Juda (the Lion of the tribe of Juda).

Tiger never existed in Africa and was never seen or known by our forefathers. So they had no name for it. But in modern times, some people also call the tiger agụ. However, I have suggested that it be called agụ-ukwu (the big leopard), because it is the biggest of the big cats, while cheetah should be called agụ-ọsọ (the speed leopard), because it is the fastest land animal.

So should isi-agụ be changed to isi- ọdụm? It is not necessary. Languages don't develop like that.

Similar mistakes had been made in Igbo before. Some months ago, I asked people on Facebook what is the Igbo name for library, since school is already called ụlọ akwụkwọ (book house), and what is the Igbo name for pharmacy, since hospital is already called ụlọ ọgwụ (drug house). It caused a lot of confusion and introspection.

School has been "erroneously" named ụlọ akwụkwọ. It can't be changed anymore. Library will have to get a different name. Same goes for pharmacy.

In English, similar mistakes have been made countless times. When the world erroneously thought the earth was flat, they coined the words "sunrise" and "sunset", believing that the sun rose from the east and set in the west. Centuries ago it was discovered and certified that the sun never rises and never sets. Rather the earth rotates round the sun. Centuries after, the words sunset and sunrise have not been abolished in English. We use it everyday even though we know sunset and sunrise are scientifically wrong and non-existent.

Similarly, the months September means 7th month (ie septuagenarian); October means 8th month (ie octagon, octogenarian); November means 9th month (ie nonagon, nonagenarian); December means 10th month (ie decimal, decade, decimetre). But in reality they are 9th, 10, 11th, 12th month respectively in the Gregorian calendar we use today. This is because the old calender did not capture 2 months. The current calendar captured them, gave them names and adjusted the months by 2 months, causing the mix-up we have today. But nobody bothers to change the names of the months to reflect their true meanings.

Again when Christopher Columbus set out for India through a different route, he landed in North America. Thinking it was another part of India, he called the indigenous people he saw there Red Indians. West Indies also got its name via that mistake. These names have stuck till today even though North America has no connection with India.

So isi-agụ was mistakenly named by those who didn't know the difference between agụ (leopard) and ọdụm (lion). But that name has stuck. It can't be changed now. Isi-agụ is its name.

Interestingly, some isi-agụ materials bear no animal pictures (as can be seen in some of the attached pictures), but are still called isi-agụ. Some even have the pictures of other animals but are still called isi-agụ. So it is no longer the picture drawn on this material that makes people call it isi-agụ. It is the material and what it represents. It is the cloth material that points to the Igbos as a people. The Igbos have adopted it as the cloth that gives them their identity. So isi-agụ is it!

If you don't have your isi-agụ, nwanne, ndo.

© Agunze Azuka
https://m./942897792539847?view=permalink&id=987334154762877
Cc: Lalasticlala

nice....finally glo allowed me...ftc.....shoutout to all them men hitting it hard to make the mulla bless up this year!!

Pentecostalism can never wipe away our culture. We will rather get rid of them before they wipe us out. Lord chosen be warned!

Igbo Amaka.

Proud Igbo Boy.

Doesn't matter...cloth na cloth

isi agu wey girls don abuse finish.

noted

If you are not igbo u can never be an igboman(Wiseman)

babyfaceafrica:
Doesn't matter...cloth na cloth

Matters alot

Hide ur face

Dnt start another thread (nepotism)

i blame d mod who moved this nonsense to fp

Okay, Noted.

Number 1 TRIBE

Really! It's obvious that you only hold brief for the small-minded class of my tribesmen. Because it's an insult to postulate that a quasi-meaningless material thing as ish agu cloth is an identifier of a sane and sound Igbo person.

Conscientiousness is the idiosyncrasy of the aristocratic Igbos, our identity.

skulgen:


Matters alot

ok...use am withdraw money

OP, your write up on change of name or lack of it has no bearing IMHO. The black descendants in America used 2 be called “Black Americans” until it was deemed as politically incorrect and it was changed to African Americans. The real indigenes of America are now called Native Americans and not “Red indians” as they used to be. Same goes for female “hostesses and actresses”. If the world can change, I think the word “isi-agu” a cloth that was “borrowed” from the western colonists can be renamed to a correct nomenclature. My 2 kobo

babyfaceafrica:
ok...use am withdraw money

Sure i will.

Stop hating.

One love.

Agu

Good narrative

skulgen:


Sure i will.

Stop hating

am not like you..I don't hate ....I also don't spend too much time on irrelevant things

Nice

I need one

Beautiful write-up Azuka! Ka udo chia n'ala Biafra! I see!

Visit CandyTv.com.ng

Abu mu onye igbo! Igbo Amaka!

Nice! were can i buy a pair of these clothings?

Aba boys have even turned it to t shirts.

Damn.

I like that isi agu that was crafted like a coat in the first picture.


I will show it to my tailor

This is the sort of thread that we should be seeing on nairaland. OP God bless you for sharing with us this insightful post. I have learnt something meaningful today

Following

Shebi that second picture still qualify as Isi-agu abi na Isi-tomato? In my town, lion is referred to as agu; the same way Owerri people refer to akpu as loi-loi.

aleeyus:
you mean?

It is either that you get rid of tribalism or it suffocates you. My 2cents.