Question: Did the Arọ people coin the name 'Abiama' for the High God or is the word an ancient name already in use among some (at least) of the Igbo-speaking peoples before Arọ ascendancy during the Atlantic Age?

The long uncontested opinion (by most people, anyway) appears to be that Abiama is an Arọ innovation spread in comparatively recent times through the establishment of Chukwu Abiama satellites by the Arọ over a wide swathe of Igboland. Well, not entirely uncontested. The Nsukka-area peoples, for instance, insist that they have always known the high god as Ezechitoke Abiama; certainly (they say) before Aro incursions into their area in the later part of the 18th century.

Some etymologies have been suggested for Abiama; from somewhat logical ones like "All-Knowing Diviner" (Abia - to divine; Ama - Knowedge/Revelation) to rather ridiculous-sounding ones like "You come and you know" (Abia, amara.)

My opinion is that all the etymologies of Abiama so far proffered are modern attempts at explaining a word whose actual meaning is lost.

Enter historical linguistics.

Historical linguists have been able to piece together some elements of Proto-Niger-Congo religion. This is the religion of the stone-age ancestors of most modern West Africans as well as the Bantus of Central, East and Southern Africa. The religious traditions of all these peoples (West African and Bantu) derive from Proto-Niger-Congo traditions which took form about 10,000 years ago.

Now, comparative linguistics suggest that our proto-Niger-Congo ancestors (or at least the Benue-Kwa descendants of Proto-Niger-Congo, which include the ancestors of the Akan, the Igbo, the Yoruba, the Bantu and Bantoid peoples, etc) believed in a high, rather distant, god whom they knew as *Nyambe. *Nyambe derives (say scholars of Niger-Congo) from a Niger-Congo root which means 'to begin'. Hence, *Nyambe would mean 'The Beginner'/'The One Who Was There From the Beginning' or 'First Cause'.

Cognates of *Nyambe are found widely distributed all over this region. In many places, *Nyambe has (understandably) fallen out of use, to be replaced by local coinages, but its attestation, from Ghana (where it survives as Nyame) all the way deep into Bantu Africa is accepted by historical linguists to be an indication that the word goes back to proto-Benue-Kwa times, which dates back thousands of years, perhaps 8,000 years, and possibly more.

My argument which I present here is that 'Abiama' is cognate with *Nyambe, and that there are attested sound changes which support them being cognates.

1. The loss of the 'b' in *Nyambe is attested in many variants of the name. For example: Nyame and Njame, the names for the high god in Akan and Batonde respectively.

2. The change of the terminal 'e' to an 'a' is equally well-attested. Examples include Njama and Nyama, the high god in Mutsaya and Bakosi respectively.

3. Note the 'Nj' in the forms Njame and Njama. The 'Ny' sound has been replaced in these cases by the consonant 'J' and the nasal consonant 'n'. The introduction of the consonant 'j' will be pivotal in an argument I will make later.

4. Then there is the introduction of an initial vowel 'a' which is attested in the from 'Anyambe', the high god in a number of languages (Nkumi and Orungu, for examples).

Now, if we postulate a hypthetical form of *Nyambe affected by all four sound changes listed above, it would look exactly like *Anjama. To be clear, no Niger-Congo language known to me uses 'Anjama' for the high god, but then many West African Niger-Congo languages as well as many of their Eastern Bantu linguistic brethren have switched to other expressions for the high god; it is now impossible to know just what other variants there might have been a thousand or a couple of thousand years ago.

My hypothesis is that an *Anjama form probably existed and was the direct ancestor or a close relative of Abiama.

Occasions where 'j' varies as 'bi' occurs sporadically in the YEAI linguistic cluster. Take a few examples:

1. Dog: The Yoruba word for dog, aja, appears in Igala (a Yoruboid language) as abia.

2. Blood: The Yoruba word for blood, eje, appears in Igala as ebie.

3. Come: The Ekpeye word for come, ja is cognate with the Igbo word for it, bia

4. Kolanut: The Igbo word for kola, ọjị, could possibly be cognate with the Yoruba word for same, obi

On the basis of sporadic (not regular) j<---> bi sound equivalence/correspondence in this region, one could make the reasonable assumption that this hypothetical *Anjama derived from well-attested sound changes could have varied as Anbiama.

From Anbiama we're just one pesky consonant drop away from our modern word.

It seems entirely plausible to me that the Proto-Igbo people knew the high god as Anbiama. In later ages, chi-based names (Chi Okike, Chitoke, Chileke, etc) were coined and other names of foreign provenance (eg, Obasi and various forms of Olisa) were adopted. The old name was retained by some groups in compound forms (eg, Eze Chitoke Abiama); but it appears many groups dropped it entirely and it was forgotten.

Until the 17th - 19th centuries when Arọ oracular agents revived it.

Thorough

A question. Is the *Nyambe reconstruction using a palatal nasal \ny\ or are the \n\ and \y\ separate consonants in this reconstruction?

ChinenyeN:
A question. Is the *Nyambe reconstruction using a palatal nasal \ny\ or are the \n\ and \y\ separate consonants in this reconstruction?

I can't say I know how the reconstructed *Nyambe is supposed to be pronounced, but I have assumed that the 'ny' should be voiced the way it is voiced in those descendants of the word that have retained the 'ny', i.e., a palatal nasal.

Now, comparative linguistics suggest that our proto-Niger-Congo ancestors (or at least the Benue-Kwa descendants of Proto-Niger-Congo, which include the ancestors of the Akan, the Igbo, the Yoruba, the Bantu and Bantoid peoples, etc) believed in a high, rather distant, god whom they knew as Nyambe.

Nyambe = Yahweh?

The original Hebrews were blacks, so it's easy to imagine the two words refer to the same Entity.

rosinkkit:


Nyambe = Yahweh?

The original Hebrews were blacks, so it's easy to imagine the two words refer to the same Entity.

You won't be the first to think *Nyambe and Yahweh are related. Back in colonial days, when Hebraism was really fashionable as an explanation for impressive culture in Africa, European scholars were having fun with the idea.

rosinkkit:


Nyambe = Yahweh?

The original Hebrews were blacks, so it's easy to imagine the two words refer to the same Entity.

What do you mean by original? What is an original - insert any ethnicity -??
First people to carry the name "Hebrew" or people who brought the language and culture to those parts
And what makes the Hebrews today not good representatives of the Hebrew identity

The idea of Yahweh doesn't even fit the African idea of the supreme being, they are obviously two different religious lineages

Aros did not know god, everything must have been business for them. A number of subgroups at particular intervals transversed the enclaves of the south east but none left such negative imprint like the aros.
They simply supplant - that's how I see it.

macof:


What do you mean by original? What is an original - insert any ethnicity -??
First people to carry the name "Hebrew" or people who brought the language and culture to those parts

The original Hebrews, like the original Egyptians, were black Africans, and looked like THIS:


Ancient Hebrews being marched into captivity by Assyrians

Those thick dreadlocks, flat noses and thick lips are not of white people or Arabs.

And what makes the Hebrews today not good representatives of the Hebrew identity

They are European descendants and are not of the seed of Abraham. They are Jews by ancient conversion.

Read The 13th Tribe by Arthur Koestler, an Israeli scholar who admits this fact.

The idea of Yahweh doesn't even fit the African idea of the supreme being, they are obviously two different religious lineages

There is no such thing as ''the African idea'' of the Supreme Being.

Africa is not mono-religious or mono-cultural.

rosinkkit:


The original Hebrews, like the original Egyptians, were black Africans, and looked like THIS:


Ancient Hebrews being marched into captivity by Assyrians

Those thick dreadlocks, flat noses and thick lips are not of white people or Arabs.



They are European descendants and are not of the seed of Abraham. They are Jews by ancient conversion.

Read The 13th Tribe by Arthur Koestler, an Israeli scholar who admits this fact.



There is no such thing as ''the African idea'' of the Supreme Being.

Africa is not mono-religious or mono-cultural.

What is an original - insert ethnicity - ?
Is it those who were first called the name of that ethnicity or those who brought the language to where it is spoken and culture to where it is practiced?

I don't think I asked about suggestions of phenotype

But if you say those who speak hebrew today and practice an ancient Hebrew derived culture today are not fit to be called Hebrew then what is the essence of being "Hebrew"??
Although the politics and declaration of ethnic identity is rough in the area, we can point out people that have the land, the language , the culture even genetic studies conclude they have the dna of the ancient Hebrews, so I'm genuinely wondering what makes a people unoriginal despite all this, mixing with foreign populations aside, what exactly is unoriginal here?


Well if you knew that Africa is not mono-religious or mono-cultural why would you think the African idea of the supreme being in question (*Nyambe/Nyame etc) is same as Yahweh? Since you claim the original Hebrews were black as if all black people have the same religious traditions.
Also you said you imagine the two words "Yahweh" and "*Nyambe" refering to the same entity, when not only do the people who worship a Nyambe-type deity follow a traceable religious lineage separate from that which Yahweh worshiping Hebrews followed, the two words come from languages of no relatedness.
Yahweh being a Hebrew word and Nyambe being a reconstructed Proto-Niger-Congo word

macof:


Also you said you imagine the two words "Yahweh" and "*Nyambe" refering to the same entity, when not only do the people who worship a Nyambe-type deity follow a traceable religious lineage separate from that which Yahweh worshiping Hebrews followed, the two words come from languages of no relatedness.
Yahweh being a Hebrew word and Nyambe being a reconstructed Proto-Niger-Congo word

The highlighted is very important. Many people do not understand how this cognacy thing works.

There is an Australian aboriginal language that calls dog dúg pronounced like the English word for the same animal. But linguists know this isn't an example of true cognates. Linguists call these false cognates, where words in unrelated languages can sometimes sound very similar, by accident. Examples can be cited from languages throughout the world.

Sorry it took a while to respond. I had family visit me and then there was the Umu Igbo Unite event that I was in some ways forced to attend so my time was occupied. I'm back now though, so here is my response.

AjaanaOka:
I can't say I know how the reconstructed *Nyambe is supposed to be pronounced, but I have assumed that the 'ny' should be voiced the way it is voiced in those descendants of the word that have retained the 'ny', i.e., a palatal nasal.

And that is also why I am asking; to understand whether communities where the term survived are actually using it as *\ny\-ambe or as *\n\-yambe, since I myself am unfamiliar with the pronunciation. For me, this would have been significant in me trying to wrap my mind around whether or not we can make a case for Abiama as a surviving innovation of *Nyambe. To that end, I did confirm from some of my Twi and Akan-speaking friends that it is the palatal nasal.

In fact, let me start first with the circumstantial evidence to speculatively support of your initial question: Abiama as an Aro innovation or a pre-Aro Igbo Name for God?

A while ago, I became part of the school of thought that Aro's real innovation is just the impact they had on oracular trade and their ability to leverage and connect already existing but mostly disparate trade routes. The trading legacy, the trading fraternity, etc. Those are the real innovations. However, the key tooling that Aro used to provide this innovation is a different matter. Circumstantially, it seems all of Aro's key tooling is conscripted from other culture-groups.

Ibinu Ukpabi was taken from the local Ibibio community's Ibit Ukpabi. Kamalu was reportedly adopted from Ohafia's Kamalu Ikere (Kalu Akanu oracle). Indeed these are distinct oracles from different culture-groups, but as far as the role they played in Aro's trading legacy they are functionally the same; essentially different names for the same key tooling. Now what else is functionally a different name for the same key tooling? Chukwu Abiama. Looking at Aro's legacy as far as conscripting tooling, I do not find it surprising that Chukwu Abiama could also have been adopted from yet another culture group. In this case, I cannot specifically pinpoint a community that it derived from, because the academia is mostly sold on this being an Aro innovation and simply chooses to not dig deeper into it. However, if I had to guess, I would say that it might have been within the same general axis (or greater region) as both Ibit Ukpabi and Kamalu. In other words, where Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu meet. Of course, this is just speculation, but I think it is good speculation for thinking about whether the "Chukwu Abiama" concept is truly an Aro innovation or if it likely existed for other communities prior to the establishment of Aro's trading legacy.

I guess we can examine this thought process (and perhaps research this) later on, but long story short, a part of me suspects that although the cult of Chukwu Abiama (as in the "High God Arbitrator" ) is an Aro innovation, the actual "High God" concept of "Chukwu Abiama" (and the terminology surrounding it) may not be. I guess I'll stop there are far as the circumstantial speculation of Abiama being an Aro innovation. Now, on to thinking about whether or not Abiama is a cognate of *Nyama. Thinking about at a cursory level it seems plausible, but I am a bit hesitant. Let me try to think through this.

If I were to phonetically write Abiama, I would write it as Abyaama. There are two things informing my decision to write it as such.

The first thing is that the \bi\ sound is distinctly a palatalized bilabial (i.e. \by\). In other words, it sounds phonetically like "A-bya" as opposed to "A-bi-a". I guess this may not need much explanation in terms of why it has informed my decision to write it as "Abyaama". It should be self-explanatory in a way, but if anyone would like me to expound further, do let me know.

The second thing that informed my decision is the tonal structure for "Abiama" as I am familiar with it. The tonal structure follows a very common pattern that has seemingly survived in all modern Igbo lects. At least, I assume it has survived in all lects, because I have not yet encountered a lect where I have not witnessed this tonal pattern. This pattern is noted at the sentence/clause level and not the word level. The structure can be described as such:

When a term with low tones follows a term that ends in a low tone, it forces that previous term's final tone structure to always shift from low to high.

Perhaps this might be better explained with a few examples, using the following terms: "ala" (LL) and "osa" (LH); by the way L = low tone, H = high tone (for others who might be reading and following along with us). So with "ala" and "osa", I have included the inherent tone structures. When combined as a clause, the tone structure undergoes some changes.

ala (LL) ala (LL) => ala (LH) ala (LL)
ala (LL) osa (LH) => ala (LH) osa (MH)*

* This one is a bit more complex, but for the sake of brevity, I've eliminated any unnecessary information just to show my point, being the shift from low to high for the preceding term.

In the same vein, we can see this echoed with "Abiama".

abya (LL) ama (LL) => abya (LH) ama (LL).

This is probably the biggest hinderance in me fully coming around to Abiama being a cognate with *Nyambe. This grammatical tone structure suggests to me that "Abiama" is not a single term, which in turn suggests to me that "Abiama" is decipherable as a modern Igbo expression. By modern I mean to suggest that the coinage may not have its roots in proto-Igbo.

One other thing convinces me of the coinage's modernity; the lack of a falling tone in the center of a single "word unit" in surviving Igbo lects. I put "word unit" in quotes to indicate I am explicitly referring to those terms that we cannot decompose further. Perhaps that is too constricting, so I will include terms we can also conceptualize as having been directly conjugated from a verb root. So with that said, this ad-hoc "word unit" class consists of words such as anya and imi (which are inherited from proto-Igbo and difficult to decompose) as well as oghe (an opening) which we can determine as coined from the root -ghe (be open; gape). Now, perhaps this might be due to my own limited knowledge, but I have not yet seen a reconstruction that suggests a falling tone exists in the center of a word that belongs in this ad-hoc "word unit" class. I have seen modern and reconstructed instances of falling and rising tones at the beginning and end of a "word unit", but not in the center.

So if we try to take "Abiama" to be a "word unit" (in this case inherited from proto-Igbo), we are forced to accept an instance of a falling tone in the center of such a word; Abyaama (LHLL). The HL in the center is effectively be a "fall". This would be such a novel occurrence. So novel in fact that we would be forced to say that it is extremely non-conforming and as such should be decomposed.

The final thing I might add is that I confirmed the tonal structure for *Nyambe from my Twi and Akan-speaking friends (who are familiar with the Nyame variant). The tone structure they used was consistently \Nya\ [L] \me\ [H]. I understand that just as sound shifts occur within and between branches, so also would tonal shifts. However, it is difficult for me to reconcile Abyaama [LHLL] with Nyame (LH).

I will admit though that the one blind spot in my analysis is that I have actually not heard the expression "Eze Chitoke Abiama" pronounced nor have I seen any annotations on its tonal structure, unfortunately. I would really love to know how they pronounce it in Nsukka, but I don't have any people I know well from the Nsukka area that I would be able to ask. That might end up changing a lot of my analysis, if it turns out the pronunciation is notably different.

But anyhow, long story short, I am certainly of the opinion that "Chukwu Abiama" may not have been an Aro coinage, but as of now I am still hesitant on whether or not we can consider it as a cognate for *Nyambe.

rosinkkit:


Nyambe = Yahweh?

The original Hebrews were blacks, so it's easy to imagine the two words refer to the same Entity.

Are you sure ? I thought the Hebrew is a Race, while considering her history. Why attaching a particular colour to the Hebrew? After all, you cannot transliterate or know exactly what each word in Hebrew lexicon means. Beside, Nyambe and Yahweh are not cognate

ChinenyeN:
Sorry it took a while to respond. I had family visit me and then there was the Umu Igbo Unite event that I was in some ways forced to attend so my time was occupied. I'm back now though, so here is my response.


And that is also why I am asking; to understand whether communities where the term survived are actually using it as *\ny\-ambe or as *\n\-yambe, since I myself am unfamiliar with the pronunciation. For me, this would have been significant in me trying to wrap my mind around whether or not we can make a case for Abiama as a surviving innovation of *Nyambe. To that end, I did confirm from some of my Twi and Akan-speaking friends that it is the palatal nasal.

In fact, let me start first with the circumstantial evidence to speculatively support of your initial question: Abiama as an Aro innovation or a pre-Aro Igbo Name for God?

A while ago, I became part of the school of thought that Aro's real innovation is just the impact they had on oracular trade and their ability to leverage and connect already existing but mostly disparate trade routes. The trading legacy, the trading fraternity, etc. Those are the real innovations. However, the key tooling that Aro used to provide this innovation is a different matter. Circumstantially, it seems all of Aro's key tooling is conscripted from other culture-groups.

Ibinu Ukpabi was taken from the local Ibibio community's Ibit Ukpabi. Kamalu was reportedly adopted from Ohafia's Kamalu Ikere (Kalu Akanu oracle). Indeed these are distinct oracles from different culture-groups, but as far as the role they played in Aro's trading legacy they are functionally the same; essentially different names for the same key tooling. Now what else is functionally a different name for the same key tooling? Chukwu Abiama. Looking at Aro's legacy as far as conscripting tooling, I do not find it surprising that Chukwu Abiama could also have been adopted from yet another culture group. In this case, I cannot specifically pinpoint a community that it derived from, because the academia is mostly sold on this being an Aro innovation and simply chooses to not dig deeper into it. However, if I had to guess, I would say that it might have been within the same general axis (or greater region) as both Ibit Ukpabi and Kamalu. In other words, where Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu meet. Of course, this is just speculation, but I think it is good speculation for thinking about whether the "Chukwu Abiama" concept is truly an Aro innovation or if it likely existed for other communities prior to the establishment of Aro's trading legacy.

I guess we can examine this thought process (and perhaps research this) later on, but long story short, a part of me suspects that although the cult of Chukwu Abiama (as in the "High God Arbitrator" ) is an Aro innovation, the actual "High God" concept of "Chukwu Abiama" (and the terminology surrounding it) may not be. I guess I'll stop there are far as the circumstantial speculation of Abiama being an Aro innovation. Now, on to thinking about whether or not Abiama is a cognate of *Nyama. Thinking about at a cursory level it seems plausible, but I am a bit hesitant. Let me try to think through this.

If I were to phonetically write Abiama, I would write it as Abyaama. There are two things informing my decision to write it as such.

The first thing is that the \bi\ sound is distinctly a palatalized bilabial (i.e. \by\). In other words, it sounds phonetically like "A-bya" as opposed to "A-bi-a". I guess this may not need much explanation in terms of why it has informed my decision to write it as "Abyaama". It should be self-explanatory in a way, but if anyone would like me to expound further, do let me know.

The second thing that informed my decision is the tonal structure for "Abiama" as I am familiar with it. The tonal structure follows a very common pattern that has seemingly survived in all modern Igbo lects. At least, I assume it has survived in all lects, because I have not yet encountered a lect where I have not witnessed this tonal pattern. This pattern is noted at the sentence/clause level and not the word level. The structure can be described as such:

When a term with low tones follows a term that ends in a low tone, it forces that previous term's final tone structure to always shift from low to high.

Perhaps this might be better explained with a few examples, using the following terms: "ala" (LL) and "osa" (LH); by the way L = low tone, H = high tone (for others who might be reading and following along with us). So with "ala" and "osa", I have included the inherent tone structures. When combined as a clause, the tone structure undergoes some changes.

ala (LL) ala (LL) => ala (LH) ala (LL)
ala (LL) osa (LH) => ala (LH) osa (MH)*

* This one is a bit more complex, but for the sake of brevity, I've eliminated any unnecessary information just to show my point, being the shift from low to high for the preceding term.

In the same vein, we can see this echoed with "Abiama".

abya (LL) ama (LL) => abya (LH) ama (LL).

This is probably the biggest hinderance in me fully coming around to Abiama being a cognate with *Nyambe. This grammatical tone structure suggests to me that "Abiama" is not a single term, which in turn suggests to me that "Abiama" is decipherable as a modern Igbo expression. By modern I mean to suggest that the coinage may not have its roots in proto-Igbo.

One other thing convinces me of the coinage's modernity; the lack of a falling tone in the center of a single "word unit" in surviving Igbo lects. I put "word unit" in quotes to indicate I am explicitly referring to those terms that we cannot decompose further. Perhaps that is too constricting, so I will include terms we can also conceptualize as having been directly conjugated from a verb root. So with that said, this ad-hoc "word unit" class consists of words such as anya and imi (which are inherited from proto-Igbo and difficult to decompose) as well as oghe (an opening) which we can determine as coined from the root -ghe (be open; gape). Now, perhaps this might be due to my own limited knowledge, but I have not yet seen a reconstruction that suggests a falling tone exists in the center of a word that belongs in this ad-hoc "word unit" class. I have seen modern and reconstructed instances of falling and rising tones at the beginning and end of a "word unit", but not in the center.

So if we try to take "Abiama" to be a "word unit" (in this case inherited from proto-Igbo), we are forced to accept an instance of a falling tone in the center of such a word; Abyaama (LHLL). The HL in the center is effectively be a "fall". This would be such a novel occurrence. So novel in fact that we would be forced to say that it is extremely non-conforming and as such should be decomposed.

The final thing I might add is that I confirmed the tonal structure for *Nyambe from my Twi and Akan-speaking friends (who are familiar with the Nyame variant). The tone structure they used was consistently \Nya\ [L] \me\ [H]. I understand that just as sound shifts occur within and between branches, so also would tonal shifts. However, it is difficult for me to reconcile Abyaama [LHLL] with Nyame (LH).

I will admit though that the one blind spot in my analysis is that I have actually not heard the expression "Eze Chitoke Abiama" pronounced nor have I seen any annotations on its tonal structure, unfortunately. I would really love to know how they pronounce it in Nsukka, but I don't have any people I know well from the Nsukka area that I would be able to ask. That might end up changing a lot of my analysis, if it turns out the pronunciation is notably different.

But anyhow, long story short, I am certainly of the opinion that "Chukwu Abiama" may not have been an Aro coinage, but as of now I am still hesitant on whether or not we can consider it as a cognate for *Nyambe.

This is fairly technical, and I completely see the point you're making. I hardly gave any thoughts to tonal structure while I was thinking about this subject. I had been concerned at first about tracing a multisyllabic word all the way back to proto-Igbo, but I got myself to stop being too concerned about that by thinking of the possibilty that the proto-Igbo could have been *byama (following your path now and writing the word phoneticallly); and an initial 'a' could have been inserted at a latter period.

Anyway, I found the sound correspondences between *Nyambe and Abiama too striking (personally) to have been entirely accidental.

AjaanaOka, I actually just fell into the same thought as you when I was thinking more about it this past week. Since I know \bya\ [L] (the term for esoteric, magical knowledge) is a legitimate morpheme of its own, it became a matter of answering for \ma\. At the cursory level, there is enough there that it seems like more than a coincidence. Even I began to doubt my response to you a bit. I might need to think more on this.