Alexkene: Okada (motorcycle) is also an igbo word.

Here's the story as my grandfather narrated to us.


When the first motorcycles were brought to Lagos, Nigeria, everybody was surprised.

When passengers rode on it, people taught they would fall off the bike, because it was not like the bicycle that was pedaled

When ever people rode on the bike, Nigerians would ask themselves, "he would have fallen down"

The igbo would say "o ka ada" ....meaning (he would have fallen down).

The bikes created then were not as strong as the modern ones and people fell from it easily.


The igbo phrase "o ka ada" grew so popularly around Lagos and its environs that it finally became the nickname of the motorcycle



Source: My late grandfather, who never lies.

ur grandfather is surely d best story tell ever

Alexkene: Okada (motorcycle) is also an igbo word.

Here's the story as my grandfather narrated to us.


When the first motorcycles were brought to Lagos, Nigeria, everybody was surprised.

When passengers rode on it, people taught they would fall off the bike, because it was not like the bicycle that was pedaled

When ever people rode on the bike, Nigerians would ask themselves, "he would have fallen down"

The igbo would say "o ka ada" ....meaning (he would have fallen down).

The bikes created then were not as strong as the modern ones and people fell from it easily.


The igbo phrase "o ka ada" grew so popularly around Lagos and its environs that it finally became the nickname of the motorcycle



Source: My late grandfather, who never lies.

ur grandfather is surely d best story tell ever

jamace: So, tell us what the binis and yorubas call the "oyibos" or are you telling us the binis and yorubas started/coined the name for the whites? Please complete your argument so that we know the truth.

I'm not in for the argument, I'm only answering you for validation. What i mean is that it would hold ground to believe the word came from the Yorubas or Bini as they were earlier contacts with the white. Let me use this analogy, Ebola was named from its source or first area of notice. It wouldn't make sense to say it was Nigerians that named it Ebola frm the word Adebola and not the Congolese/Sudanese, just for whatever reasons .

Onye/Onyi Igbo, as the Op claimed was a misnomer by the whites ( he said the whites were called Oyibos because they couldnt call Onyi igbo), Yorubas call Igbo pple Igbos, would it make sense then to the call Yoruba pple "Y.ibo" because of how they call Igbos?

oyibo

How some people saw nothing good and educating about this post is so baffling.

But off- cause, useless stock among our western brothers.

Waspy: Yorubas or Bini as they were earlier contacts with the white.

how exactly did u come up with dat? or is it one of ur many assumptions?

Emeca:

how exactly did u come up with dat? or is it one of ur many assumptions?

Emeka pls review your history books

As a yoruba word, its just as credible to say it means honey,peeling/blister.. It is supported by the physical traits of Oyinbos in the hot sun.
They always turn red (like honey) before they blister and peel at the skin.. Always..
So there is just as much reason to believe this story as also reason for OP's story because there is an Igbo linguistic basis..
Its arbitrary now because there is Physical and linguistic basis combined in the yoruba word theory.. In the igbo, there is also linguistic and physical basis but the Onye Ibo is a bit askew because the white people are not "ibo" as Onye Ibo implies..
But people have come to linguistic terms of naming people and places, under far more confusing circumstances which were also rooted in two separate cultures meeting with no experience or knowledge of each others language and making many foul ups in the process of gaining understanding..
The Igbo side was the first to encounter the Portuguese and later landings of Portuguese were in Lagos area.. The later british landings were first in Lagos area.. Maybe not even in Igbo tribe proper, but in the Bonny and Calabar area for the first Portuguese landings.. The Portuguese left their genes there, you can see people from their with classic head shape of the portuguese and also light skinned people..In fact those traits extend all the way to Gabon area.. There are stories saying that its possible the portuguese had sailed to the west and central african coast before the historical record accounts.. So that the original visits were forgotten by the natives over generations of no contact and when the next contact came, it was considered a new first time contact by both sides.. Same as many stories of stray voyages ending up in America long before america was discovered, and there is genetic evidence and other evidence suggesting that..
Also There are yoruba words that match the Chinese words.. And they are greeting words just the same as a sea going Chinese language or dialect.. In fact it is the greeting words that they would first learn from each other.. I wonder if the yoruba carried it from the Chinese or the Chinese carried it from the yoruba.. Can it be simple coincidence? I don't think so when the Chinese have a sailing history much older than that of Europe.. The Chinese always returned back and made no attempt to integrate or colonize people they encountered outside of Asia..Although i think China may have taken some african people to asia with them as novelty show and tell.. It may explain why some odd dispersion of black tribes in asian islands across south Asia and even some Mixed asian/black traits in Asia continent proper..

Waspy: Emeka pls review your history books

i suggest u read more history books...clearly d ones u have are missing many pages.

Hint: "old calabar"

omokab: Mr.op why are you fooling youself on unnecessary argument?oyinbo have no traces of ibo dielet from any angle.the white men arrive yoruba land before they even no where called ibo land.the yoruba of then have their reason of calling White men oyinbo as at that time.if you want to know the fact from the origin you wl do your reseach by trying to find out what an average yoruba man and woman of early time called the white men likewwise ibo people of that time.yoruba of then called white, oyinbo alawo funfun.That's what our forefather called the white men.pls, go and do your research very well and stop credting what does not belong to your tribe again.Thanks

Yoruba people self
you just like the OP said "oyinbo" is Yoruba while he said oyibo is igbotic in syntax.
just a simple postulation yet Yorubas bring in ethnicity into every thing..as if they'd get a medal for it
for the records,the first Nigerian group to interact with the whites were the biniy..as far back as 1480.they were followed by the ijos and mgbokos.the Yoruba interaction started in 1840,after the Battle of Oshogbo which shifted Yoruba focus which had been oriented northwards, South.
as per the Igbos, I don't really know but according to an earlier comment,Olauda ekwuano(1745-1796) mentioned in his book that Igbos called whites "oyibo" which suggests contact preceding the 1800s.
I don't understand the inferiority complex that makes Yorubas flood any NL thread on Igbo/Biafra to cause nuisance
##teambreakupnigeria

Bolt3: The origin of the word is difficult to ascertain, some people believe the name is coined from the Yoruba translation of "peeled skin" or "skinless" which in Yoruba translates to "yin" - scratch "bo" - off/peel. In Igbo language demonym takes the form " onye + the place of origin" of the person, hence, and Igbo person is called " Onye Igbo". A Yoruba person is called " Onye Yoruba". A German is "onye Germany". Thus the first white people were called "onye ocha" for singular and "ndi ocha" for plural meaning "white person and white people" respectively. This was because the Igbo people of those days did not know from where the white people came. Interaction between the Igbos and the white people resulted in the white people trying to refer to the Igbos with a name similar to what the Igbos called them, but there was problem in pronouncing Igbo words due to presence of double lettered alphabets which involve nasal pronunciation,in some of the consonants such as 'ch', 'gb', 'gh', 'gw', 'kp', 'kw', 'nw', 'ny', 'sh'. These were not present in English language hence the difficulty in the white man's effort in giving the Igbos similar demonym as the Igbo people had given to him, instead a name resulting from a mutilation of Igbo words was produced "Oyi ibo' instead of " onyi igbo' meaning 'Igbo person' just as he 'the white man' was called ' onye ocha' meaning 'white person'. It was this 'oyi ibo' that the Igbos later started referring to as 'white person' in a way of mocking the white man for his inability in saying "Onye Igbo". This would later be adopted by other Southern Nigerian tribes as the standard name for the white man and coupled with dialect variance one obtains different pronunciations such as "Oyinbo' in Yoruba and other western Nigerian tribes. Also, 'Oyibo' means English Language in Igbo. In general usage it may refer to individuals with various skin complaints such as vitiligo or genetic conditions such as albinism.

hmmm!!! akika! well....i used to be active on nairaland until i realized too much of it(nairaland) is not healthy for me.
you may ask me why? if you care to know.
Ans - I discovered that the site is full of ethnic jingoist and bigots that want to lay claim to everything good by means of propaganda,history twisting,history re-writting,imaginary stories while most of the of their lives and history are nothing of relevance to the human race....
yes i am talking about Igbos always trying to blur out the Yorubas through unhealthy/filthy competition.


It saddens me alot when these things go about their dirty habit without the respect of their host(Yorubas) ....I can cite many instances but i will leave it for another day.

Fun awon omo egbe Oduduwa ke ranti wipe, Evil triumphs when good pple keep quite...so i have taken it upon myself to respond accordingly when i deem fit...as a YC (YC - is a new group - Yoruba Custodians...it is in its formative stage and we have alot of voluntary members who are ready to do whatever is necessary.Yes,necessary.


Back to the question - Oyinbo is a Yoruba word. "Oyin"- meaning "Honey" and "Bo" - meaning peel(Bo - could be literary meaning,
bleach,or very light skin depending on ur clan) - cos in Ghana i will be referred to as a white man,u get the drift lolzzzzz)
Back in the days ,we the Yorubas refer to ourselves/our skin as "alawo oyin" - Honey skin, before d white man tagged those morons BLACK.
And by "alawo oyin" - the oyin refers to the melanin in the skin by virtue of color/brown pigmentation of d Yoruba skin.

When the pale skin/white arrived ,the Yorubas referred to them as Oyinbo - literally meaning is peeled/pale/bleached skin but in the real sense ,it is actually a derogatory name which means someone with no honey on is skin, therefore less melanin or no melanin at all.

Thanks

Oduduwa a gbe wa oooooo

Pls stay educated and guard ur culture.

Won le e ba je e...Baba baba nla won o to be.

tsolz84: In Southern Igbo areas e.g Abia, Imo and Upland Rivers state including Bonny and Opobo, Oyibo is hardly used for Europeans.Bekee or Nwabeeke, onye ocha or Ndiocha is used instead of Oyibo.The Igbo groups that uses Oyibo are Western and northern Igbos.The souther Igbo people were the first to encounter the Europeans and they did not call them Oyibos but Ndi ocha...Oyinbo literal meaning is pealed back honey/ Peeled skinned people which is the termed by yorubas to address light skin foreigner..This word Oyinbo is not only used in Nigeria but also by Crelos people in Serri leano and according to them, they got it from the yoruba word..Oyibo is an Igbo way of saying Oyinbo which was originally never an Igbo word. Lets get our facts right here.It iss just like saying the word "na" is orginally hausa or so,we all know that "na" is a corrupt version of "nna" thus of Igbo origin..@OP;pls get ur fact right b4 posting

I don't know about the Oyibo but "na" is an Igbo word. NA or N' is used as conjunction and preposition in Igbo language. example: m na gi ga agba egwu n' ubochi uka. The first NA is conjunction (AND) while the second N' is preposition (ON, the same is used as IN).

Sorry to break the news to you, but Oga comes from the English word, Ogre. When the whites came they refereed to the Chiefs of the tribes as Ogres (pronounced "Oga" ).

An ogre is a being usually depicted as a large, hideous, manlike monster that eats human beings. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogre

The natives picked it up and called anyone superior to them "Oga"

Next time you are hailing your boss "Oga", no say you dey use style cause am!

english is oyibo.....because the first white people to come to naija was english people.....therefore any white person is refer as english man ....thats the reason we call oyibo.....i dont know where u got this your Yoruba thing...

azezola: Omo aje okuta mamu mi don come again ooo, inferiority complex Igbo people.

fu cking smelly ugly yoruba race . illiterates .

Oyinbo word came from a battle the English fought in the east part of nigeria it was said the the sound of the bomb blast that came from the canon they used during the war in a place call oyinbo in the east side of the country.

Ranchhoddas: it's yoruba... O ga meaning he's big.

Not big. But tall. Get the point.

filebe777:


hmmm!!! akika! well....i used to be active on nairaland until i realized too much of it(nairaland) is not healthy for me.
you may ask me why? if you care to know.
Ans - I discovered that the site is full of ethnic jingoist and bigots that want to lay claim to everything good by means of propaganda,history twisting,history re-writting,imaginary stories while most of the of their lives and history are nothing of relevance to the human race....
yes i am talking about Igbos always trying to blur out the Yorubas through unhealthy/filthy competition.


It saddens me alot when these things go about their dirty habit without the respect of their host(Yorubas) ....I can cite many instances but i will leave it for another day.

Fun awon omo egbe Oduduwa ke ranti wipe, Evil triumphs when good pple keep quite...so i have taken it upon myself to respond accordingly when i deem fit...as a YC (YC - is a new group - Yoruba Custodians...it is in its formative stage and we have alot of voluntary members who are ready to do whatever is necessary.Yes,necessary.


Back to the question - Oyinbo is a Yoruba word. "Oyin"- meaning "Honey" and "Bo" - meaning peel(Bo - could be literary meaning,
bleach,or very light skin depending on ur clan) - cos in Ghana i will be referred to as a white man,u get the drift lolzzzzz)
Back in the days ,we the Yorubas refer to ourselves/our skin as "alawo oyin" - Honey skin, before d white man tagged those morons BLACK.
And by "alawo oyin" - the oyin refers to the melanin in the skin by virtue of color/brown pigmentation of d Yoruba skin.

When the pale skin/white arrived ,the Yorubas referred to them as Oyinbo - literally meaning is peeled/pale/bleached skin but in the real sense ,it is actually a derogatory name which means someone with no honey on is skin, therefore less melanin or no melanin at all.

Thanks

Oduduwa a gbe wa oooooo

Pls stay educated and guard ur culture.

Won le e ba je e...Baba baba nla won o to be.

That one change the price of garri ijebu

Waspy: Stop deceiving yourself OP .... Ya'll don't have to make it look as if Igbos gat things to prove always or needs to be seen as winners/contenders in some kind of imaginary rat race. Stop the unneccesary aggrandizement . Its kinda annoying and basically for losers.

For the records tho....Bini and Yorubas had an earlier and longer contact with the whites.. It would make more sense if we agree that they came up with a name for the whites. In fact, the whites wouldnt have called themselves a misnomer of Onyi Igbo, why would they call themselves that or learn to call Igbo pple that??. This is not to add the fact that they felt the slavery blow more too.

Must u b idiotic with ur post? Anoda ebola on d loose...anumamu...anu mpama...ewu ohia.

OdenigboAroli:

Albosa is a northern word....we in Anambra call onion "yabas".

Yabas in northern Igbo. Ayo in some parts of southern Igbo, the 'o' in Ayo sounds like the 'o' in the english word, 'orange', lest a yoloba mistake Ayo for the yoloba name Ayor, spelt as Ayo.

PeterKbaba: You all stop confusing yourselves.
First of all. Oyinbo is a Yoruba word for white man.

Oyin = Honey from a Bee = Brownish color of honey (African skin)

Bo = Peeled = bleached Skin.

Just like when Yorubas say that girl (Bo Ara = Bo-Ra = bleached her skin )

If Oyin = Brownish color of honey
If Bo = bleached skin.

Therefore;
Oyin-Bo = Oyinbo means a Brown Man/Woman who's skin was bleached.

Oyinbo a White Man.

And where did the op say that OYINBO is an Igbo word?

Oyibo is a northern and western Igbo word for white man, and later on,a light skinned Igbo. Southern Igbos use 'Beeke' a coinage for mr Baike, a white man who once visited Igboland.

But the first place a white man set foot in Igboland is in western Igbo clan of Aboh kingdom. They are the first Igbos to deal with the white man directly. So, i would say that Oyibo is an older Igbo word than Bekee, Olauda equiano was from western Igbo, and that explains why he said the 'ibos' call the white man Oyibo( note that there is no 'n' there).

'Beeke' the southern Igbo variant for a white man, was chosen by those who created central written Igbo, just as they equally chose the southern Igbo variant of land called 'Ala' instead of the northern Igbo variant of land called 'Ani/Ana', but nobody in a northern Igbo town calls the white man Beeke or land Ala, we call them Oyibo/Onyeocha and Ani/Ana. Beeke and Ala, to northern/western Igbos is nothing but an academic exercise.

In my part of Igboland, Europe and North America is refered to as 'Obodo Oyibo', which literary mean ' white man's country', but in southern axis of Igboland, it's 'Ala Beeke', literary meaning 'Baike's land', Baike being a white man that once visited Igboland.

Yolobars, you can keep your OYINBO or whatever,( i have even seen a Yoloba call it OYINGBO in a newspaper, i guess you lots are now leaning towards the OYINBO variant becos it affords you more opportunity to assign a yolobar meaning to it), but OYIBO,remains an Igbo( Northern/western Igbo) authentic and original coinage, and not a derivative of the Yolobas OYINBO/OYINGBO.

omowolewa:

Noted.

Bro I hope u won't be surprised I told u that the serielonians u made reference to have a long standing relationship with the northern igbos, onitsha people to be precise. Just as there are so many igbos in gabon who naturalised there so there are serielonians who are now onitsha indigenes. There are the cole,williams, james, moore families justto mention a few who are now onitsha indigenes, so its possible that the oyibo was adapted by the serielonians through intermarriages n relationships. Correct me if I'm wrong

Wow from what I have read so far, It seems these two words "Oyinbo" and "Oyibo" were developed independently in the Yoruba and Igbo tribes respectively. What a coincidence.

What is too hard to comprehend here?? Igbos started using the word 'Oyibo' long before there was anytin called Nigeria, long before they had any meaningful interaction with yorubas. 'Oyibo' is used fondly by Igbos when referring to fair-skinned people unlike d yoruba's 'Oyinbo' with derogatory undertone.

This confusion is all down to some sort of similar syntax.

timilehing: Really? then, "Oga, Abi & Oya" are igbo too?? ndi ara. Igbo would say: i na-asu beekee meaning "do you speak english. wher oyinbo kon take enter am? iwu grade 1 iti

Guy, u no get sense at all...
if u read wat the Op said. oyibo in Igbo means white person (asin western people nt any fair guy)... how on earth will u ask someone "do u speak white man" ? Bekee means english.. even if sef.. they hav words that's av two diff spelling but mean the same tin .. like nine (9) can be called iteghite or itoolu
Get ur facts right before quoting me again bro

I neva delight in mudslinging nor tribal argunents especially with swallow minds but what needs to be told has to be told.

Oritsa ....the word for God in Itsekiri can be traced to Orisa, a Yoruba word, and so many more examples like this abound with the Bini, the Fon pple, our neighbours in Benin,even extending to Sierra Leone and some South American nations. All these pples have and still use words that had Yoruba origin and meanings. They are yet to refute their connections with the Yorubas nor twist the meaning nor origins of these words. Brazil, Cuba and neighboring towns in Benin (Ketu and others) are proud of this connection.

Yorubas are not the only tribe taken to these places during the slave era but credence must be given to the old empire because of its immense sociopolitical prowess, hence the influences in the general language and culture of the freed slaves ( wch comprised of several Pan African tribes)

My point now is this.... are we to say the Itsekiri Neva had a word for God before they had contact with the Yorubas ?
Are we to say the Bini Neva had a word for King before they met the Yorubas.? The literature of few slaves can not be as much valid as the evidence of lingual and cultural injections that abound with different tribes outside Yoruba land

Bolt3: The origin of the word is difficult to ascertain, some people believe the name is coined from the Yoruba translation of "peeled skin" or "skinless" which in Yoruba translates to "yin" - scratch "bo" - off/peel. In Igbo language demonym takes the form " onye + the place of origin" of the person, hence, and Igbo person is called " Onye Igbo". A Yoruba person is called " Onye Yoruba". A German is "onye Germany". Thus the first white people were called "onye ocha" for singular and "ndi ocha" for plural meaning "white person and white people" respectively. This was because the Igbo people of those days did not know from where the white people came. Interaction between the Igbos and the white people resulted in the white people trying to refer to the Igbos with a name similar to what the Igbos called them, but there was problem in pronouncing Igbo words due to presence of double lettered alphabets which involve nasal pronunciation,in some of the consonants such as 'ch', 'gb', 'gh', 'gw', 'kp', 'kw', 'nw', 'ny', 'sh'. These were not present in English language hence the difficulty in the white man's effort in giving the Igbos similar demonym as the Igbo people had given to him, instead a name resulting from a mutilation of Igbo words was produced "Oyi ibo' instead of " onyi igbo' meaning 'Igbo person' just as he 'the white man' was called ' onye ocha' meaning 'white person'. It was this 'oyi ibo' that the Igbos later started referring to as 'white person' in a way of mocking the white man for his inability in saying "Onye Igbo". This would later be adopted by other Southern Nigerian tribes as the standard name for the white man and coupled with dialect variance one obtains different pronunciations such as "Oyinbo' in Yoruba and other western Nigerian tribes. Also, 'Oyibo' means English Language in Igbo. In general usage it may refer to individuals with various skin complaints such as vitiligo or genetic conditions such as albinism.

I am sorry but I am not convinced. You need to explain this more to make sense to me and I need additional proof and not speculation.

timilehing: the "oga" in that ogaranya is (do-do) while d real "oga" is (do-mi)..

Ndi Igbos na Nairaland, your claim of superiority is getting outta hand. Be a good followers &u'll learn a lot. Una aghota??

the singing birds are litening so keep playing ur d r m f s l t d 4 them

There are times that words gain wide acceptance and adoption that no group can lay claim to it. Words like 'wahala', 'gra-gra'....


Am caught in this argument because am familiar with the word 'behkkeh' and 'Oyinbo' (which there is no other substitute for it in yoruba language). I don't engage in NL tribal arguments.


Since there is no price attached to winning this argument, why not let lay it to rest.

Darchangel:
Bro I hope u won't be surprised I told u that the serielonians u made reference to have a long standing relationship with the northern igbos, onitsha people to be precise. Just as there are so many igbos in gabon who naturalised there so there are serielonians who are now onitsha indigenes. There are the cole,williams, james, moore families justto mention a few who are now onitsha indigenes, so its possible that the oyibo was adapted by the serielonians through intermarriages n relationships. Correct me if I'm wrong

I understand the...pain..of d igbo's alway's trying to show ego..in any tribal related discussion even though it doesn't concerne them.because u guy's have lived all your life in lagos it's definite the culture of the place u lived in will change ur perception abt thing's..imagine that fool saying alubosa is an igbo word thank's for that person who corrected him..moreover..how can oga and oyinbo not be yoruba word's...well whatever all this dipute about whether it originated from yoruba or not make's me proud of being a yor.#oduduwa ppeo turn up.

Alexkene: Okada (motorcycle) is also an igbo word.

Here's the story as my grandfather narrated to us.


When the first motorcycles were brought to Lagos, Nigeria, everybody was surprised.

When passengers rode on it, people taught they would fall off the bike, because it was not like the bicycle that was pedaled

When ever people rode on the bike, Nigerians would ask themselves, "he would have fallen down"

The igbo would say "o ka ada" ....meaning (he would have fallen down).

The bikes created then were not as strong as the modern ones and people fell from it easily.


The igbo phrase "o ka ada" grew so popularly around Lagos and its environs that it finally became the nickname of the motorcycle



Source: My late grandfather, who never lies.

EMMABC1:
You cud be right anyway. But popularly, Okada is an Edo word.

he's WRONG! Okada is an edo word formed by igbinedion snr and used for his airlines called okada airlines. When motorcyclists started operations, they adopted the name cos the bikes made passengers think they were flying like airplanes.