The word is most likely Urhobo or Itshekiri.

It is Yoruba for "a person whose skin appears to be peeling from bee stings" as oyin refers to bees while bo refers to peel.

amor4ce: It is Yoruba for "a person whose skin appears to be peeling from bee stings" as oyin refers to bees while bo refers to peel.

Oyinbo would be 'bees peel him/her'. But those who are stung by bees don't have peeled skins that would look like white skin. They look more like peeled by hot water. So a Yoruba man on first sight would have thot 'peeled by hot water' 'omi gbona bo' and then maybe 'omibo'. Omibo would have been more descriptive and more plausible to have been the case than a bee attack.

Small small, "bawo ni" will also be an Igbo phrase. Lol just as how Igbos are now claiming ashewo - ashawo as an Igbo word.
Too much close proximity with Yorubas is the case.


@Post

It's "Oyinbo".

rabzy:

Oyinbo would be 'bees peel him/her'. But those who are stung by bees don't have peeled skins that would look like white skin. They look more like peeled by hot water. So a Yoruba man on first sight would have thot 'peeled by hot water' 'omi gbona bo' and then maybe 'omibo'. Omibo would have been more descriptive and more plausible to have been the case than a bee attack.

I like your frankness and objectivity.

This subject is still open for more research. Hopefully, one day we shall get the correct info.

amor4ce: It is Yoruba for "a person whose skin appears to be peeling from bee stings" as oyin refers to bees while bo refers to peel.

First of all, [i]Oyin [/i]means honey, not bees.
Aren't you Bini or something like that?

Oyinbo would be 'bees peel him/her'. But those who are stung by bees don't have peeled skins that would look like white skin. They look more like peeled by hot water. So a Yoruba man on first sight would have thot 'peeled by hot water' 'omi gbona bo' and then maybe 'omibo'. Omibo would have been more descriptive and more plausible to have been the case than a bee attack.

And who is this person with 100% incorrect information?
Please stop, okay? Claim your father's language, not Yoruba.
Even if na "hot shoit", it would have been "ominbo", not "omibo".

Obiagu1:

So you mean that "Oyinbo" is a broken Yoruba "He scratched peeled". SMH!
By the way, scratched like tiger whiskers?

Someone please help me here, did the first Europeans to Yorubaland have scratched skins/face?

Look at this uncultured rat, as if you didn't see "peel" as part of his explanation.
furthermore, with languages, one word can have multiple synonymous meanings. Something your father paid to be taught to you while learning English in one Abakaliki village.

amor4ce: It is Yoruba for "a person whose skin appears to be peeling from bee stings" as oyin refers to bees while bo refers to peel.

rabzy:
Oyinbo would be 'bees peel him/her'. But those who are stung by bees don't have peeled skins that would look like white skin. They look more like peeled by hot water. So a Yoruba man on first sight would have thot 'peeled by hot water' 'omi gbona bo' and then maybe 'omibo'. Omibo would have been more descriptive and more plausible to have been the case than a bee attack.

Hahaha, I have actually come to believe that Oyinbo is a Yoruba word meaning "bees/honey peeled him/her". In Yoruba tradition, it is believed that a bee sting could peel a man's skin. Am I surprised at this conjecture? Not at all, when the same Yoruba tradition actually believes that Oduduwa fell from the sky.

Ileke-IdI:


First of all, [i]Oyin [/i]means honey, not bees.
Aren't you Bini or something like that?

amor4ce is Ijebu.

PhysicsQED:

amor4ce is Ijebu.

Is that so. . . . Ijebu-Igbo or Ijebu-Yoruba? There's a difference there.

Ijebu Yoruba. He admitted on another thread a while back that his Yoruba wasn't exactly the best.

Ijebu-Igbo is just a town, not a group, right? So even if he were from there he'd still be Ijebu Yoruba.

PhysicsQED: Ijebu Yoruba. He admitted on another thread a while back that his Yoruba wasn't exactly the best.

Ijebu-Igbo is just a town, not a group, right? So even if he were from there he'd still be Ijebu Yoruba.

That explains much.

Oyin is not bee, it's honey.

@Ijebu-igbo, my slight attempt at a joke.

Old witch.

mbatuku2: Old witch.

Older witch.

itz:

Ohibo not Oyibo

Ohinbo not Oyinbo

Ileke-IdI:


First of all, [i]Oyin [/i]means honey, not bees.
Aren't you Bini or something like that?




And who is this person with 100% incorrect information?
Please stop, okay? Claim your father's language, not Yoruba.
Even if na "hot shoit", it would have been "ominbo", not "omibo".

Madam take am easy, this is a discussion and not a war front, am not among tribal war mongers, so just chill. So if i said omibo and you said ominbo, what great catastrophe have i committed. I never claimed yoruba, sogbo. Yeah i know hot water is 'omingbono', but it would have been a mouthful to say 'ominbo' and ominbo could easily have later become 'omibo' 'water peeled him'. Now am not saying this is how 'oyinbo' came to be, am only just examining the 'bee/honey peeled' idea.

Now for something more 'catastrophic', the yorubas or some of them also call the white man's language 'eebo', while 'geesi' is the official, grammatic word for English, but in everyday life, yorubas call English 'eebo' or 'ede oyinbo'. E.g mi o gbeebo, i dont understand english, eebo lo n so yen (na English you dey speak). There is this popular joke about the former military adminstrator in lagos Raji Rasaki, when he was chided about his poor English, he said ' won pe, aa gbe eebo, aa gbe eebo, but aksion si n lo' meaning, 'they said i cant speak english, i cant speak english, but action (i.e work) is going on.

If 'eebo' is used to mean the English language, how does that jell with the honey/bee theory. The Edos also call the language 'eebo', with a slight twist in the pronunciation, also the whiteman and any fair person is called 'eebo'. Now 'ovbi-eebo', the sons/offsprings of white, can easily become oyinbo.

Now the common denominator in all this is the syllable 'bo'. The syllable sounds exactly the same in 'eebo' and 'oyinbo', unlike in the 'oyin-bo (honey/bee peeled contraption). For me the search should commence from how did they come to be called 'eebo'.

Notwithstanding, this is just a discussion, Someone can come up later and show us an ancient, hardly known or otherwise Yoruba/hausa/Igbo word or incidence that would shed more light on the term and that could be the right source or a more plausible term.

What is the Yoruba word for bee?

If a person has lesions/boils (which usually look reddish) from an insect sting, is it not easier for the epidermis at that area to be broken/ruptured?

amor4ce: What is the Yoruba word for bee?

If a person has lesions/boils (which usually look reddish) from an insect sting, is it not easier for the epidermis at that area to be broken/ruptured?

Oyin = Bee, the insect
Oyin = Honey, the sweet thing the bees produce

ifyalways: Both are correct.
Oyinbo is yoruba while oyibo is igbo.

Exactly!!!

Dagos is a word englishmen use to describe italians,portuguese and spanish becos of their language and name that ends always with "0".SO one can be nicknamed from his language.europeans calling onye igbo;oyibo can be given that nickname "oyibo" by igbos. Afterall during the nigeria/biafran war the name nyamiri was given to the igbos by the hausas becos they heard one igbo soldier shout "nyem mmiri". So yorubas coming out here to claim that yin means scratch and bo means peeled,when put together will give "scratch peel" and not peeled skin as u claimed it means.

I dont know about oyinbo but the word oyibo is urhobo and it means white

but its no big deal wether ppl call it oyinbo or oyibo it still means the same thing

^^^the yoruba translation of oyinbo is still very different from yours so before asserting that oyinbo is derived from onye igbo you'ld have to come up with explanations to show that the yoruba translation is wrong, else yours remains faulty.

As an igbo man from anambra,we don't call english language 'bekee',i think,bekee is more of abia and imo thing. In anambra and enugu, english= oyibo, white man's land= obodo oyibo.

But to imo and abia people, english= bekee,white man's land= ala bekee.

pazienza: As an igbo man from anambra,we don't call english language 'bekee',i think,bekee is more of abia and imo thing. In anambra and enugu, english= oyibo, white man's land= obodo oyibo.

But to imo and abia people, english= bekee,white man's land= ala bekee.

You are somehow right but I think is quite mixed. Bekee originated from Aboh/Ukwuani but Oyibo seems older. You can hear such names as Akuoyibo and Egoyibo but not Akubekee or Egobekee in Imo State. However I've seen people from Enugu/Anambra/Abia going by Egobekee or Nwabekee. Bekee was adopted as central Igbo though.

Oyibo is an igbo word
meaning white person,yoruba bastardised the word to make it sound like a yoruba word,corrupted it to onyinbo
same as in ejima meaning twins In igbo,they changed their's to Ejire
and Ube,theirs is Ibe(pear)

Abagworo:

You are somehow right but I think is quite mixed. Bekee originated from Aboh/Ukwuani but Oyibo seems older. You can hear such names as Akuoyibo and Egoyibo but not Akubekee or Egobekee in Imo State. However I've seen people from Enugu/Anambra/Abia going by Egobekee or Nwabekee. Bekee was adopted as central Igbo though.

Yea,you are right,bekee became the central igbo. You are really versed in igbo things,yea, oyibo appears older,especially that akuoyibo(coconut),it's the same thing even in imo and abia,one would have expected them to call it akubekee.

o'boy:
Oyibo is an igbo word
meaning white person,yoruba bastardised the word to make it sound like a yoruba word,corrupted it to onyinbo
same as in ejima meaning twins In igbo,they changed their's to Ejire
and Ube,theirs is Ibe(pear)

Don't be too sure,igbo,yoruba,edo belongs to the same language sub grouping called 'kwa' or something like that,they share a lot in common. For example,do you know that the edos and yorubas call box 'akpati' too.

lol See as everybody jusy dey claim.

Though i have a friend whose last name is "Oyibo" and she's from Imo state.

Food for thought.

pazienza:

Yea,you are right,bekee became the central igbo. You are really versed in igbo things,yea, oyibo appears older,especially that akuoyibo(coconut),it's the same thing even in imo and abia,one would have expected them to call it akubekee.

We say Bekee and not Oyibo, in my part of Abia.

Ibo - Oyibo

Yoruba - Oyinbo

Oyinbo is a Yoruba word tho.