StarFlux: I just checked with my dictionary, since I was in doubt after your comment. It does say onirele means peaceful (peace = irele). But peaceful is synonym with calm, so their meaning is very similar. When it comes to jeje, it also says that when used as an adverb, it means peacefully/quietly. And according to this book,http://books.google.no/books?id=CzUV4oKBiSIC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=jokoje+yoruba&source=bl&ots=rGwHC8hVWV&sig=qZwOlAFglbj5XYvM3GhoVvUQKJc&hl=no#v=onepage&q=jokoje%20&f=false
jokoje means sit quiet(ly). So I believe this is just a case of synonym-crashing, and nuances in the language when it comes to meaning. All in all, languages can rarely be translated with 100% accuracy, so I would think in this case no one is wrong.
So after my research, written Yoruba or standard Yoruba (it's based mostly on Oyo and Ibadan dialects, but there are aspects from other dialects as well), so it might differ a little bit from the spoken dialects, and it that case, the blame is on me.


Also, how would you say "all is calm/peaceful now"? as asked previously.

StarFlux:


Also, how would you say "all is calm/peaceful now"? as asked previously.

Chimaaba: Salut.

Would someone be willing and graceful to assist me to put the following into Igbo - as a gift for my father?

Father you have fought well!
As a child I looked up to you,
But I am now a man, so I walk my own path and make my own decisions.

Because of you, I honor our ancestors and love my people.
I will follow your example, and serve Ndi-Igbo.

ifyalways: @Starflux and Seunfly,the all is calm now was actually my translation for Adetutu for which someone claimed it wasn't right.

So,how would you guys translate the name Adetutu ?

seunfly: Ade means crown, tutu means cold. But tutu can be use figuratively to mean gentle, easily, calmly, sweet, peacefully and sometimes abusive(not smart). But in this context, Adetutu mean gentle crown(name given to girls).

StarFlux: Hello!

I have a new question.

It says in my book that láti dé means "to come back", but I thought the correct word was láti bò(ọ) or láti padà wá. It seems to be contradicting itself, unless these words means the same thing.

Bareena: Hello everybody,

I am new to the forum and new to Yoruba language. Anybody here who is willing to help me translate the following Yoruba words / names? If they can be translated into English. I was told a lot of words can't be translated literally. But there might be a way to describe or explain them. Even though that would be in a perhaps "clumsy" way. Many thanks in advance...

• Inukogun
• Awofusi
• Atikaresete
• Omipensen-akodun-koro
• Keke
• Oritoteere
• Adiloye
• Adetutu
• Eka
• Jokoje
• Ikase
• Osikaleka
• Olabosipo
• Onimeri-Apala

StarFlux: Hello, again!

I was listening to dami duro by Davido, and was wondering what exactly it means.
I know duro means stop, and mi - me, so I assume ema dami duro means don't try to stop me, followed by the emi omo baba olowo (I'm a rich man's/father's son) but what does the da in dami mean?

I looked up try/attempt and i I found dan and da aba, so maybe the da is dan, so it means try? Would make sense. The reason I'm in doubt is because all the words set together is what I find very hard to learn.

StarFlux: Hello, again!

I was listening to dami duro by Davido, and was wondering what exactly it means.
I know duro means stop, and mi - me, so I assume ema dami duro means don't try to stop me, followed by the emi omo baba olowo (I'm a rich man's/father's son) but what does the da in dami mean?

I looked up try/attempt and i I found dan and da aba, so maybe the da is dan, so it means try? Would make sense. The reason I'm in doubt is because all the words set together is what I find very hard to learn.

StarFlux: Hello!

I don't understand the following:

Iya mi yoo fun mi l'owo. What does the l' mean? I'm aware of the ellisions which can mean say, at and be from "ni" or l without the ' which means have. I can fully understand the sentence as a whole, but the l' puzzles me.

seunfly:

l is a short form of ni. Just like "can not" = "can't" note "not" turn to "t". But this happen alot in yoruba words/sentence. Eg mo ni owo = mo l owo, mohun lo ile = mohun lo le, mo na owo = mo na wo, ni owo turn to l owo.

Emerald988: Pls someone should translate 'how are u dis evening' in yoruba for me.

StarFlux: Bawo l'irole? (How is the evening?)
There might be another way to say it.

StarFlux: Bawo l'irole? (How is the evening?)
There might be another way to say it.

amekaoti: Fulaman198: Thank you for the post. I am interested in learning more fulfulde. Do you all have a dictionary?

Fulaman198:

No, there is no dictionary because there are too many Fulfulde/Pular dialects.

odumchi:

Generally, how intelligible are the dialects?
To what degree would a Fulani child born in Katsina, Nigeria understand the language of a Fulani child born in Gambia, if the two has not previously interacted?

StarFlux: Pulaar dictionary: http://www.amazon.com/Pulaar-English-English-Pulaar-Standard-Dictionary-Hippocrene/dp/0781804795/ref=pd_cp_b_0

There are Fulfulde ones, but they are rare and often out of print. You can see some of them here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3Afulfulde&keywords=fulfulde&ie=UTF8&qid=1352217033

Scroll a bit down.
I'm sure you can find small online dictionaries though ^^,