One of the most puzzling word in Yoruba lexicon, orisha has always been an imponderable. What does the word mean? That's the million naira question. As usual, your one and only itk, a la 'prodigal son' has gone uprooting words again. Haba you no dey taya?

It's okay to solve good mystery, that's the bait. Its my way of cultural activism, engaging the mind with Yoruba intellectual culture that has elude us for epochs. Welcome to intellectual (open) secret. First my semantic approach is 'no brainer'. Won't use mystery to solve mystery when the world has unsolved mystery enough. The trick is linear: 'solute+solvent=solution'.

First, the Yoruba did not have the concept of 'god'. Such concept is exotic approach to Yoruba pantheon, which is another 'deity-centric' lexis. Well medieval Europe have her fair share of 'gods' on and before the common era. The West named days of the week after some of her idols and gods, and the same goes for planetry bodies and nebulars.

The case may have been different if Copanicus or Galilei had been Yoruba. But they were not. Now Europeans sought to describe Yoruba iconic characters, whose historionics are relatively obscure to records and, they ended up creating a 'mindset' that will make the icons become far remove from the culture they helped birthed. Some of our own undermine bit and piece memorials built around such icons in oral records to sound erudite.

Now the word Orisha, word for word derived from two words, 'Ori' and 'Sa'. Ori is Yoruba for head or seer. Sa on the other hand stands for selection. Together the word simply means those 'selected by the seer' or, 'selected by the head.'This simple definition now lean on Yoruba history to attain factual comprehension.

To say the least, Orisha were countable number of elite folks that made the list of the head or seer who selected veterans for Yoruba migrantion from Orun, the Yoruba spring. These individuals were drawn from all walks of life. Getting to Yorubaland, they created altars at different places they touched down at. With time and after the epoch of these empire builders, decadence fell and the people began to worship the name of the veterans who put the alter in place and such places became shrines.