wwwihy:
It has come to my attention how some Igbo elements try to hide their history onitsha to Enugu belonged to Benin king
Hence it has partly Yoruba ownership as Yoruba and edo are cousins

https://www.nairaland.com/3937705/onitsha-belongs-benin

Odua1stson:
Leave those bastard landgrabbers, when the time comes, surely the land will be taken from them and will be given to rightful owners

Coconuthead126:
No be by Wikipedia rants my brother, any half-wit can edit and add whatever distortions he/she wants on wiki... if e sure for Benin people say na dem own Onitsha, then let them cross the river Niger and come lay claim to Onitsha. Igbos made it clear Lagos is no man's land, and they walked the talk by actually taking over the economic threshold of Lagos by buying up lands, owning major businesses, properties etc now lazy and jobless Yoruba youths now queue up every day in Ladipo, Alaba, ASPANDA, computer village, Ajah etc to beg their Igbo masters for small change to buy loud to smoke and Iya Bukayo's ewa agoyin/agege bread to eat .

SuperBold:
••• Oni of Ife title is Onirrisha(which means owners of orishas) •••

Oni + Osha = Onitsha - owner of oshas(orishas)•••

TAO11:
“Oonirisha” does not mean the “owner of orisha.”

Rather it’s “Ooni-[O]risha” signifying that the Ooni of Ife himself is deity — “Ooni, the deity”.

Yes, the title “Ooni” itself literally means “the owner of all things” — singnifying “Lord”.

Actually, “Ooni” and “Oluwa” are words which literally mean one and the same thing, viz. “the owner of all things” — that is, “Lord”.
————————

Regarding “Onitsha,” you have to identify the meaning of this word too before you may draw any parallel if any at all.

My intuition says there is no parallel at all, but there are other better reasons why there is no parallel at all.

But if you want to be absolutely certain, you must begin with what “Onitsha” itself means.

@Redbonesmith, could you please shed some light for @SuperBold as per the meaning of “Onitsha”? Thanks!

Cheers!

SuperBold:
Onitsha and Obi of Onitsha are product of Benin and by that case related to Ife.


Oni of Ife title is Onirrisha(which means owners of orishas) , there was cultural exchange between Ife and Benin.

Benin Prince founded Onitsha

Oni + Osha = Onitsha - owner of oshas(orishas)

Did the Benin Prince name the place in honor of his paternal great grandfather title (Onirrisha)?

Can we say Onitsha and Anioma are part of lost Yoruba kingdom?

This is a grey area of our history we need to study!

Tao11 tao12 Gbagura legendhero

You must have come up with this crap under the influence of something

IGBOs are aboriginal to the IFE area and occupied it for several millennias before yoruba incursions

Hellraiser77:
You must have come up with this crap under the influence of something

IGBOs are aboriginal to the IFE area and occupied it for several millennias before yoruba incursions

SuperBold:


Gbegile u don come na we name you igbo

Hellraiser77:
Aturu Hausa named you "Yoruba" right after they captured ilorin and enthroned their emir

SuperBold:


Igala and ijaw captured you and sold you to Oyinbo. Small tribes dey turn igbos to O#u in their land

Akuko ikoja The whole of ilorin is now Fulani land from now till eternity , Half of ogun now lives Benin Republic

SuperBold:
Thanks. It was intuition too, Onitsha and Onirisha is too close to be coincidence. I'm open for knowledge sha Redbonesmith

TAO11:
Like I already noted in that same comment, it’s not my intuition alone that makes the supposed parallel a superficial and coincidental one.

I had noted (and I quote here again) that “there are other better reasons why there is no parallel at all.”

Some of these “other better reasons” are that:
(1) There is no substantive evidence to conclude that the indigenous people of Onitsha had Bini ancestry; or that Onitsha was ruled by a Bini or by Benin.

The most one can find are identical cultural artifacts (which are plausibly indicative of cultural borrowings due to proximity); or some information from some oral account from certain Onitshas to the effect that:

(A) The Igbo people of Onitsha used to lived within or around Benin city, but later drifted eastward from their initial/host community due to some turmoil. This proves nothing vis-a-vis a Bini ancestry.

(B) The oft-cited 1970s autobiography of Dr. N. Azikwe — by certain Bini elements — is non-conclusive (and quite suggestive of his personal vainglory) for the very reason that the relevant detail therein is contradicted by an historical essay complied by he himself some forty years earlier.

(2) Even if we pretend (for the sake of argument) that the Igbo people of Onitsha have Bini ancestry (a claim for which there is zero substantive evidence), the Onitshas could not possibly have dared to adopt the name “Ooni-‘risha” (on the assumption that “Onitsha” = “Ooni-‘risha” as you thought).

They wouldn’t because their supposed ancestors (the Binis) would even dare use such name let alone them — the successors.

This becomes even clearer on considering the fact that the present-day evolved Yoruba word “Ooni” is cognate with the Bini word “Oghene” which is the precise word used by the Binis in reference to the monarchs of Ife.

Just as “Ooni” signify “Lord”, the Bini word “Oghene” (used by the Binis for the monarchs of Ife) similarly signifies “Great Lord”. To the early Binis, the monarch of Ife is a deity whose face you dared not behold — let alone bear his title.

These foregoing reasons, I believe, explains why these two expressions are mere coincidental. In other words, they must relate to different things thus have different meanings.


I should add as a side note that the closeness in sound (and sometimes even in meaning) of a pair words (each from a different language) does not necessarily guarantee that one of the said pair of words is descended linguistically from the other.

Consider the following words from the English language and the Yoruba language respectively.

Despite the fact that these two languages belong to different, distinct unrelated language families; the words not online sound alike, but also have the same meanings:

[me] English: ‘me’ | [èmi] Yoruba: ‘me’

[yawn] English: ‘yawn’ | [yán] Yoruba: ‘yawn’

[ruin] English: ‘ruin’ | [rūn] Yoruba: ‘ruin’

[iron] English: ‘iron’ | [irin] Yoruba: ‘iron’

[in] English: ‘in’ | [inú] Yoruba: ‘in’

And so forth.

On the basis of these (five pairs of example with same respective meaning — not merely one pair example whose meaning are most certainly different), shall we then conclude that the Yorubas or the English originally descended one from the other? Obviously not.

These are known as ‘coincidences’ in linguistics, and you will certainly find one or more of such examples in any two language you scrutinize.

In sum then ‘sound’ (or even ‘sound’ and ‘meanings’) isn’t a deciding factor of any ancestral connection as is the proven case with ‘Ooni-‘risha’ and ‘Onitsha’.

Cheers!

RedboneSmith:
There is one thing people do not know or do not take into consideration when trying to ascribe a Yoruba meaning to Onitsha (more correctly, Onicha; Onitsha is an anglicisation.)

It is this: Onicha is actually a pretty common place-name in Igboland. There are Onichas in every single one of the 5 Southeastern states. Every single one of the 5 SE states has Onichas. Delta State has Onichas, too. Both in Aniocha and in Ukwuani. The popularity of the one Onicha in Anambra (Onitsha) in modern times has cast a shadow over the existence of an innumerable number of Onichas among the Igbo-speaking peoples.

These Onichas do not all share a common migration story.

Now, Onitsha (when I use the anglicized version, I am referring strictly to the prominent market town in Anambra State) has migration links with the Onichas in Delta State. But the other Onichas in the east are completely distinct. Onicha in Enugu State has nothing to do with the Onicha in Anioma, and the Onicha in Anioma has nothing to do with the Onicha in Ebonyi, as far as tradition goes.

Unless one is hypothesizing that the Yoruba colonised every corner of Igboland and planted "Oni Orisha" communities all over the Igbo space, a Yoruba etymology for 'Onicha' just doesn't make sense.

Cognates of "Orisha" actually still exist in all Western Igbo dialects and many Eastern ones as well. They are Olisa/Olise/Orisa/Orise. In at least one instance, it is Orisha. In none of the cognates does the "-sha" of Orisha vary as "-cha". If "Onicha" derives from Oni Orisha", I would expect Onicha to be "Onise" in Anioma and "Onisa" in the East.

The word 'Onicha' is in all probability an ancient Igbo word.

And no, no one is exactly sure what it means. Zik said it means 'Onini ncha' (i.e., one that has proven too tough for everyone), according to his Onitsha people's tradition. Personally, I think Zik's meaning is probably folk etymology, invented by the Onitsha people to explain Onitsha's history of quarrels and conflicts with almost all her neighbours. I've been in groups where some other pretty logical Igbo etymologies have been offered. It may have initially indicated land on which some communal shrines stood. Onicha is actually till this day a shrine/deity in some areas of Ika.

AlexBells:
At least we have Obi of Onitsha and not Oba of Onitsha unlike Lagos

TAO11:
Like I already noted in that same comment, it’s not my intuition alone that makes the supposed parallel a superficial and coincidental one.

I had noted (and I quote here again) that “there are other better reasons why there is no parallel at all.”

Some of these “other better reasons” are that:
(1) There is no substantive evidence to conclude that the indigenous people of Onitsha have Bini ancestry; or that Onitsha was ruled by Benin or a Bini.

The most one finds is identical cultural artifacts (which are plausibly indicative of mere cultural borrowing). One also finds certain information to the effect that:

(A) The Igbo people of Onitsha used to live within or around Benin city, but that they later drifted eastward from their initial/host community due to some turmoil.

This account by itself obviously proves nothing vis-a-vis a Bini ancestry of the Onitshas.

(B) The 1970s autobiography of Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe admits a royal Bini ancestry for the people of Onitsha.

This is non-conclusive (and suspiciously suggestive of his personal vainglory) for the very fact that this detail is contradicted by an historical essay compiled by the same author some forty years earlier.

(2) Even if we pretend (for the sake of argument) that the Igbo people of Onitsha have Bini ancestry (a claim for which there is zero substantive evidence), the Onitshas could not possibly have adopted the name “Ooni-‘risha” (on the assumption that “Onitsha” = “Ooni-‘risha” as you thought). They wouldn’t dare because even their alleged ancestors (the Binis of old) wouldn’t.

This becomes clearer on considering the fact that the present-day evolved Yoruba word “Ooni” is a cognate with the Bini word “Oghene” (which is the precise word used by the Binis of old in reference to the Ife monarch).

Just as the word “Ooni” signifies “Lord,” the Bini word “Oghene” (as used by the Binis of old for the monarch of Ife) similarly signifies “Great Lord”.

To the Binis of old, the Ife monarch is the great ancestral deity whose face you dare not behold let alone take on his title.

These foregoing reasons, I believe, explain why these two expressions appear to match — that is, due to mere coincidence. In other words, these two expressions must be in relation to different things and as such have different significances.


I should add, as a side note here, that the closeness in sound (and even in meaning too) of two expressions or words (each from a different language) does not lead to the conclusion that one of these is necessarily from the other.

Consider the following pair of words from two unrelated languages, viz. English and Yoruba. It is interesting to note that not only do the corresponding words in a pair sound alike, they also have the same meanings.

[me] English: ‘me’ | [èmi] Yoruba: ‘me’

[yawn] English: ‘yawn’ | [yán] Yoruba: ‘yawn’

[ruin] English: ‘ruin’ | [rūn] Yoruba: ‘ruin’

[iron] English: ‘iron’ | [irin] Yoruba: ‘iron’

[in] English: ‘in’ | [inú] Yoruba: ‘in’

And so forth.

On the basis of these, shall we then conclude that one of the Yorubas or the English people actually descended from the other? Obviously not.

These are known as ‘coincidences’ in linguistics, and you will certainly find one or more of such instances in any two languages you scrutinize.

In sum then, ‘sound’ (or even ‘sound’ and ‘meaning’) isn’t a deciding factor of any ancestral connection as is the proven case here with “Ooni-‘risha” and “Onitsha”.

Cheers!

RedboneSmith:
And secondly, I know I have already said this a million times. And I know our Benin brothers will stick to their guns even after reading this. But I will keep saying it. Onitsha did not migrate from Benin.

They will come to quote Zik's autobiography from the 1970s now, but they will not remember that Zik wrote something completely different 40 years before his autobiography. They will not also remember to mention Northcote Thomas from the 1910s who investigated the Benin claims and concluded they didn't hold water.

The most interesting thing is that the names that many quarters of Onitsha bear till this day will clearly tell you where they migrated from.

Obio quarters in Onitsha migrated from Obior in Delta.
Obamkpa migrated from Obomkpa in Delta.
Ubulu-na-Ikem quarters migrated from Ubulu clan in Delta.

And in cases where the name of the quarters doesn't give the origin away, tradition still steps in to provide the answer.

Agba-na-ute quarters migrated from Onicha-Olona in Delta.
Awada clan migrated from Issele-Mkpitime. And so on.

Onitsha was founded by Igbo-speaking Anioma people who clashed with Benin's expansion into the Anioma area and fled eastwards away from that power.

Christistruth00:
More Yoruba Words with Similar English sounds and meanings

Immunity. E mu ni ti

Dirt. Idoti

OK. Oke

Yam. Iyan. ( Though some say Yam actually came from Iyan)