Alo NL‘S,
Dont know if this topic has ever been discussed on this forum.Its word been used virtually by all ethnic grps in NIG & one wonders if thse three major LANG & evn dos 4rm south south dnt ve their own word for WAHALA bt alwyz been quoted during communication by all tribes in NIG.the hausa‘s wld say‘MASALA‘ 4 WAHALA,the ibo‘s nko!The yoruba‘s wil say is WAHALA.My questn nw is;wch tribe owns d word & why is it commonly used amongst these tribes?
So wz ur take guys?

It's arabic

mbatuku2: It's arabic

I think its hausa/ fulani

Its correct to say that it is hausa or fulani and also correct to say it is arabic..hausa/or fulani brought it to the region from arabic influence...I was watching program of desert life in arabia and there was a major sand storm...the local people called it a WAHAL...The sand storm is the number one bringer of trouble for them in the desert where all thier homes and belongings and even cities can be buried in wind blown sand after being scattered...So Wahal(sandstorm) is such a big trouble that it is the word used to describe trouble itself...Mahal is the opposite of trouble and is used to connote love in countries from arabia all the way to india and even south asia where indian islamist once colonized..."Taj MAHAL" in india built for love...."Mahal kita"used in Philippines to express love....Imagine if the "taj mahal" was called the "taj wahal"...it would be a house of troubles......Even though its heard among hausas saying "Masala" every tribe has many different dialects where Masala may be used among many hausa and yet some other hausas may use the word wahala...I found it interesting to find the word Okari in japan as the word for man and then to know the word Okurin in yoruba for man...They say all language spread from central africa with Yoruba being among the oldest languages...The Yoruba word for snake is very similar to the ancient egypt word for snake "je"..ejo in yoruba...morphology will always make changes but similarities will remain over many generations and migrations....

CHESSBOARD:
I think its hausa/ fulani

No. Hausa derived it from arabic language. So it's of arabian origin.

Arabic but almost turned Yoruba!