₦airaland Forum

Radoillo:
Great.

Now, what the Enogie told you about Oba Ewuare's 'home EASTWARDS' may in fact contain some elements of truth in it, because I have encountered traditions from the people living east of Benin that affirm that Ewuare was a son of their daughter's. I had dismissed that tradition until you mentioned that stuff with the Enogie.

According to Agbor tradition, as recorded by Chief Iduwe in his manuscript "A History of Greater Agbor" (written in the 1970s):

"Ogun's mother was an Agbor woman betrothed to the Oba of Benin in those days of old. The woman bore a son to the Oba and received a name Ogun meaning medicine. It happened that Ogun disputed with his half brother about who was to be the heir to the Benin throne. As it were, Ogun had no helper in the dispute so his mother left the city with her son to Agbor her former town. The mother was a daughter of an Oki man of Ikpami cult in a family of the royal physician Nmuw Obonbon. [Note: Oki is one of the sections that make up Agbor.]

Her mother appealed to doctors and priests for help to her son to be the Oba of Benin. She handed Ogun to Oheren Ezuku (priest). Ogun served the priest very well as a good hunter and taught him the Ika arts and science as dibie. Hereafter, Ogun was called back to Benin to be Oba. He went and became the Oba with the title of Eware. He was grateful to his warden and offered him the Ada sword which is yet in the shrine of Ezuku Ogan as a token of gratitude to his warden."

Concerning the Ezuku Ogan and the priest who (according to Agbor traditions) mentored Ewuare for some years, let me quote another passage from Iduwe - to put things in perspective:

"The name Oghan alias Ogan signifies the den of elephants where Agbor hunters found such beasts in the wilderness close to Ohiomo river, thus the saying, "Okeme eyin, ola Oghan" meaning after work elephant retires to its den.

Tradition says hunters formed the cottage called Ogan. After some years a native doctor from Ozoigbon Ubulu-Uku by name Eze Uku came there on Mbian business, i.e., as a herbalist. After some years of toil he died without anybody to inherit his things or manage his medicine with sacrifices but at long last his medicine for lack of sacrifices pestilence began to harm the inhabitants of the village so they went and reported the cause and effect to Eze Agbor [i.e., the Obi/Dein of Agbor] who without delay contributed a sheep and money to the people for the appeasement. The medicine became a shrine called Ezuku or Eze-Uku-Ogan."

So, according to Agbor oral history, Ewuare was not only maternally descended from the Agbor people, he was also mentored by a priesthood that had Ika and Aniocha connections (The Ezuku Ogan). Taking these bits of information together with what the Enogie told you, it may begin to make sense which 'home eastwards' Ewuare was returning to --- his maternal home in Agbor where he had earlier sought refuge in his years of trouble, and where he probably felt at home.

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All this talk about Ewuare and his possible connections with the regions to the east of Benin make me want to revisit a little issue that has puzzled me for a long time now, but which I have never had an occasion to discuss with anyone. It's about the possible etymological roots of the word 'Igue', as in the famous Bini Festival.

Many traditions affirm that Ewuare instituted Igue (although I know of some traditions that say Igue is older than Ewuare). If indeed Ewuare instituted Igue, then the observation/speculation I'm about to make may be something to look into, bearing in mind Ewuare's probable eastern (Ika-Aniocha) connections.

The Igue Festival in Benin appears to have a Yoruba parallel celebrated in Oyo called the Orun Festival. The parallels are striking:

1. The Orun Festival centres around the veneration of Ori ('spiritual head'). Igue festival centres around the veneration of Ehi, the Bini counterpart of Ori.

2. The Bashorun (the Alafin's chief minister) plays a central role in the Orun Festival. The Iyase ( the Oba's chief minister) plays a central role in the Igue Festival. Around 1918, Eweka II told an European Commission that, "I cannot celebrate Igue Festival without my Iyase. When you took my Iyase away, you took Igue Festival with him."

3. The Orun Festival takes place in September. The Igue Festival now takes place in December, but historically, it was celebrated in September. Bini history has it that it was Oba Akenzua who moved it to the month of December.

If these two festivals are rooted in the same concept, as seems likely from the similarities, shouldn't one also expect the names of the festivals to show some etymological cognacy?

'Orun' means sky or heaven in Yoruba. But 'sky/heaven' doesn't seem to be 'Igue' in Bini. The interesting thing here is that 'Igwe' is sky/heaven in the Igbo-speaking areas. If indeed Ewuare was maternally from Agbor, and if indeed he instituted Igue (as some traditions maintain), is it possible he gave the new festival he created a name from the language of his maternal folks and his mentor at Ogan?

macof:
Ok, this is a good one.

But how are the Agbor people at making brass? I remember the Portuguese report states that the Oghane sent a brass crown to the new Oba of Benin

bokohalal:
Thanks, Radoillo, for the scholarly work of Alan Ryder you had sent. I have read it once and will make a response,if any,after reading it again and digesting the whole. However, I did note that we seemed to be in agreement that Ewuare was a usurper.

Radoillo:
I myself have always felt that there is an etymological connection between Yoruba 'Ofo' and Igbo 'Ofo' -- one of those relics from the common language that both languages sprang from. 'Blessing/incantation/curse' in Igbo is 'Igo Ofo'. The Igbo took the 'Ofo' idea further by 'concretizing' it into a ritual staff, and built an entire philosophical system around it.

I see what you're saying with merin = four. But I doubt there is a connection there between Nrimenri and this merin, for reasons that may be too complex for me to put in writing.

bokohalal:
Thanks, Radoillo, for the scholarly work of Alan Ryder you had sent. I have read it once and will make a response,if any,after reading it again and digesting the whole. However, I did note that we seemed to be in agreement that Ewuare was a usurper.

Ubenedictus:
someone once said the nri guy migrated from 'the east' and may have passed through present day yorubaland wen going east, although he claimed d yorubas hadn't occupied d land then. But there is a relationship btw d ibo and yoruba language and i still cant xplain.

Radoillo:
I think what that person said is geographically illogical. Assuming the Nri migrated from the east, why/how would they pass through Yorubaland before reaching southeastern Nigeria? The migration pattern would have had to be haphazard and very random for it to make sense.

In any case, the Nri point to the northwestern corner of Anambra State (=Aguleri) as the point from where their migration began, and from there they moved in a southeasterly direction to the present location of Nri towns. I fail to see how Yorubaland comes into the picture.

Ubenedictus:
maybe the guy was wrong. He claimed the ibos migrated from around d present day middles east to eastern Nigeria.

baby124:
I believe Yoruba is the original language of the southerner's that Igbo, Benin and other tribes come from.

Of course the languages are different but there are many similarities at the foundation of such Languages and Yoruba seems to be the oldest because you can trace some unique words back to the Yoruba language. But you can't find a conversation of full Yoruba sentences. The little misplaces words here and there are evidence that they have a common history. It takes a few thousand years to lose the Yoruba language. A case in point is the Itshekiri. Yes, it may have taken thousands of years for these new languages to develop, and accents also play a heavy role in the change of these languages. But if you listen closely, they are almost fundamentally similar. I don't say this because I am Yoruba. I say it because it is what I have observed. There must have been another tribe which we can no longer identify existing in Nigeria with the Yoruba which had more consonants in their language as Yoruba have vowels. That tribe and Yoruba must have mixed to form some new languages or tribes we hear today. For instance the Igalla and Igbo. It may also have been a tribe from Cameroon in present day Igboland, cross river and akwa ibom. Ijaw however, I have not had the opportunity to study the language

Radoillo:
An Igbo man will also say his language is the original language of Southern Nigeria. And I'm sure an Edo man could say the same thing, too.

In fact, not too long ago, I had a long argument on this forum with an Igbo brother who posited that Igbo language was the source of Yoruba language.

I agree that the languages are related, but not in the way you think.

baby124:
All these other languages are made up of consonant and vowels. While Yoruba is consistent with vowels mostly. How come? And the identifiable words here and there are obviously Yoruba because they hardly contain those misplaced consonants. For example, you can easily find words in Igbo and other Languages that start with MP, KH and double consonant. Never with Yoruba. And the similar words of each Language is similar to how Yoruba will spell or pronounce it with vowels. Ear is Igbo is Nti, Yoruba is Eti. Nose is imi in Igbo and imu in Yoruba. Mouth is Onu in Igbo and Enu in Yoruba. How come Yoruba does not have similar words in these Languages that start with the funny consonants. The similar words of any language to Yoruba is always quite intelligible. Not something like MPKI

bokohalal:
They can't win. They have never won. The Igbos are still lamenting the fate that they suffered after they invaded the Midwest. Our parents told us stories of PREGNANT Igbo men. Yes, pregnant Igbo men for daring to invade the Midwest.

vicadex07:
You shall never do well modafuka. Edo people...those tiny rats. All of una combined, no reach 1% of Yoruba population worldwide. I have never heard of any edo person making giants strides, new discoveries or inventions both here in Nigeria or worldwide yet they claim one phantom benin "empire". Other tribes disassociate themselves from you cos of your notoriority in international Prostitution, Cultism, armed robbery(Anini and co), and diabolism.

Were you blind when this same OP created a thread saying Edos historically own Lagos and that the Yorubas Oduduwa was actually an edo prince. Go through his profile if you didn't see it. If you're a thorough edo man am sure you would have also heard this fable or something similar from your people. You can google it if in doubt

I repeat and reiterate, you guys should never ever compare yourself to the great Yoruba people else you shall be disgraced. The Igbos are your mates and you can continue dragging seniority with them fool cos I can see you're both proud idiots. At least both of you have arrogance in common. If you come at me again u will regret it.

Radoillo:
I read this carefully, and quite honestly, I don't see how the idea expressed here in your post supports the statement that Yoruba is the original language of southern Nigerians. I understand that Yoruba does not have the 'double consonants' at the beginning of words like 'Nk-', 'Mp-' etc, and Igbo does. But the point you tried to make that the absence of this feature in Yoruba qualifies Yoruba as the original language doesn't hold up. I can equally make the assertion that this feature is an ancient feature which the Igbo have preserved and which the Yoruba have lost. In any case this feature is found in Ibibio-Efik, Cross River languages, as well as the whole of Bantu Africa - a fact that signifies that this must be an ancient linguistic feature.

Also when you said And the similar words of each language is similar to how Yoruba will spell or pronounce is with vowels, you were wrong, as even one of your examples show:

Ear...Nti (Igbo) ; Eti (Yoruba).

Notice that the Igbo form is not 'similar to how Yorubas will spell or pronounce it with vowels'. Instead of a vowel at the beginning, the Igbo form has a consonant 'N'. If I was more knowledgeable in Yoruba, I'm sure I'll find more examples where a cognate word in Igbo follows the 'double consonant at the beginning' pattern. But I can think of at least one other example:

Staff...mkpa (Igbo) ; Opa (Yoruba).

So, you see, the similar words in both languages, are not always 'pro-vowel' for the Igbo. They can also have the Mkp- and Ng- format. It is just that the ones that are 'pro-vowel' are more quickly recognized as cognates. What if I argue that Igbo was the original language, and that the Yorubas were the ones who simplified this ancient feature by substituting the 'M' and 'N' with vowels at some point in their history?

What if I begin to ask why mainstream Yoruba appears to lack the following sounds: ch, gw, kw, but Igala, a Yoruboid language geographically close to Igbos have them? What if I conclude that these sounds originated in Igboland and was passed to the Yoruboid languages, but that the Yoruba lost them as they migrated westwards, but the Igala (a branch of the Yoruba that didn't go west) have managed to preserve them?
What if I begin to ask why a lot of words in Akoko dialects (spoken in Ondo State) are closer to Igbo than to mainstream Yoruba?

1. Tongue is ire or ere in Akoko-Ondo, depending on which dialect. It is ire in Igbo. In the rest of Yorubaland, it is awo/aho

2. Back is osu in Akoko-Ondo. In Igbo it is azu. In the rest of Yoruba it is ehin. It doesn't take a genius to see that 'azu' is closer to 'osu' than 'ehin' is.

3. Bone is ekpe/ikpi in Akoko-Ondo. In Igbo it is okpukpu. In the rest of Yoruba, it is egugu. What is responsible for the -kp- retention in both Igbo and Akoko, but its loss in the rest of Yoruba?

4. Pepper in Akoko-Ondo is eshe/ese/ete. In Igbo, it is ose. In the rest of Yoruba, it is ata. Need I add to this?

5. Money in Akoko-Ondo is okuba...or ego (Afa dialect) or ewo/evo. In Igbo it is ego - the same exact term used in Afa dialect. In Yoruba, it is owo.

Now, why does Akoko have many words that are closer to Igbo than to other Yoruba? The Akoko and the Igbo are not even neighbours. What if I begin to say that Igbo is the original language of southern Nigeria, and that the farther people moved away from the east towards the west, the language lost some of its Igboness, but some groups on the eastern fringes of the Yoruba (such as the Igala and the Akoko) retained some of that Igboness as I have demonstrated.

I'm sure you don't buy this; same way I don't buy the idea of Yoruba being the original language of all of us in the south. My point was just to show you that I can equally make the same sort of claims you've made, but this time substituting Igbo for Yoruba. Our languages are related, but one did not give rise to the other. Rather our languages descend from a common proto-language. One can draw a language tree with a proto-language (called YEAI) at the base of the tree, and with Yoruboid, Edoid, Akokoid, and Igboid forming the branches.

According to Basil Davidson the roots of the empire of Edo, like those of the Yoruba states, lie deep in the forgotten past. It seems that the first rulers of Benin, a trading settlement and afterwards a city of the Niger Delta, acquired their power soon after the forming of the first Yoruba states, or perhaps at about the same period.

The Edos have several traditions about how their people began life. According to the Edo mythology as recorded by Bradbury, the Edo kingdom was founded by the youngest of the children of Osanobua (the high God). With his senior brothers, who included the first kings of Ife and other Yoruba kingdoms and the first king of "the Europeans," he was sent to live in the world (agbon ). Each was allowed to take something with him. Some chose wealth, material and magical skills or implements but, on the instructions of a bird, the youngest chose a snail shell. When they arrived in the world they found it covered with water. The youngest son was told by the bird to upturn the snail shell and when he did so sand fell from it and spread out to form the land. So the first Oba of the Edos became the owner of the land and his senior "brothers" had to come and barter their possessions in return for a place to settle. Hence, though he was the youngest son, he became the wealthiest and most powerful ruler.

According to Crowder, the Yoruba version of the myth of origin recorded by Samuel Johnson tells that Oduduwa was an eastern prince driven out of his kingdom. After long wanderings he conquered the local inhabitants of Ife where he settled. He had seven children who were the ancestors of the Oba of Edo and the six crowned rulers of Yorubaland, namely the Olowu of Owu, the Onisabe of Sabe, the Olupopo of Popo, the Orangun of Ila, the Alaketu of Ketu, and the Alafin of Oyo. In this story the non-Yoruba kingdom of Edo is included in the very beginning of Yorubaland, and both Edo and Yoruba traditions agree on the circumstances. Bradbury has suggested that the rise of Benin and Oyo coincided with the decline of Ife 'as an effective political empire, though it has retained its primacy as a religious metropolis to the present.'

baby124:
for Igbo it's simple, their language arrangements can never exist in Yoruba language and migratory patterns all support a move from Yoruba land into places like Igalla and even Ika through Benin. There may have been reverse migrations as well in the case of Akoko. By the way, most of those migrant Yoruba groups that spread all over the south are probably indigenous to the Ondo of today. For example, those Lukumi people and some Itshekiri. So it will make sense that some of them got to igboland. The Yoruba language is diverse, but no where will we find words that are arranged MKP, that is an abberration to Yoruba language in general but seems to exist in Igbo language and tribes the border Cameroon. For places like Benin with the GH's, it sound more like an accent issue gone wild.

bigfrancis21:
It is very likely Yoruba language developed out from a spin-off dialect of Igbo long time ago, along the linguistic developmental line of Igbo to Igala to Olukwumi to Yoruba during an upward-westward migration of peoples from East towards the West. There is a reason olukwumi, aka old Yoruba language, isn't found anywhere in modern Yoruba land but right in Igbo land indicating a development of the proto-dialect within Igbo land and a likely migration of the speakers out to modern day Yoruba land where the language evolved to what it is today. This is even more plausible given the fact that Igbo civilization (Igbo Ukwu) is older than the earliest Yoruba civilization (Ife).

@OP...you forgot to include in your list 'abeokuta' which carries a similar meaning in igbo as 'ebe okwute' meaning 'place of rock', indicating a possibility of initial Olukwumi-Igbo settlers that settled in the area coming fresh from Igboland (most likely delta Igbo region) and speaking the oldest version of olukwumi still laced with Igbo words and pronunciations, which changed over time as the speakers lost direct contact with their kith and kin in the east over the years. Some theories say the Olukwumi in delta state were escapees from Ondo or is it Osun state during some war that took place at that time. Even if this were to be true, there must have been a reason these escapees chose to head back east (Igbo land) rather than to other Yoruba-speaking areas they would have easily assimilated into. I guess they chose to return to the land of their ancestors they had originated from where they were most assured of their safety. There could be other possibilities explaining the presence of Olukwumi in Delta Igbo, one of which I have just mentioned, which further research needs to be carried out on.

Another strong fact backing this suggestion is the fact that a deep introspection of similar Igbo and Yoruba words show an often easier or peppered down quality in Yoruba words than Igbo words and it is often known that children languages that evolve from a parent language are often easier to pronounce, speak, spell and/or learn. Take Spanish, Portuguese, Italian etc. (children languages) and their parent language, Latin, for example. During medieval times, Latin happened to be the language of class and the rich. It was a mark of grandeur which only the elite of the society spoke properly well. They had the privilege of going to school where they had Latin teachers teach them how to speak the language properly. However, the low-class and peasants of the society, however, could not speak proper Latin and often spoke bad Latin aka Pidgin Latin such that variants of this Pidgin Latin developed to Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian etc. that we have today. Latin words, when compared with words from its children languages, tend to be longer, deeper and albeit more complicated in pronunciation and writing. Of course old English (early language of the angles, Saxons and jutes) is more complicated than modern English. In the same respect, similar Igbo vs Yoruba words exhibiting the characteristics of Latin vs Spanish/French etc are Egwugwu vs Egungun (a type of masquerade), Ogwu vs Ogun (charm), Mmiri vs Omi (water), Okwute vs Okuta etc. Notice the dropping of the quite difficult to pronounce 'gw' and 'kw' consonants in Yoruba and replacement with letters 'g' and 'k' only and addition of the nasal feature of 'n', thus making the word pronunciation easier. Yoruba language is often said to be easier to learn than Igbo and Igbo is characterized by double consonants such as 'gw', 'kw', 'ch', 'gh', etc. many of which are lacking in Yoruba language but interestingly found in Igala language (Yoruboid), which is a boundary language between the Yorubas to the West and Igbos to the South.

I would love to think of Yoruba as a likely language off-shoot of a very divergent archaic Igbo dialect. Some people may not like what I wrote but we need to start taking at things from a different point of view.

scholes0:
In the Yoruba-Igala-Olukumi-Itsekiri language cluster, there are 23 consonants shared by all.

Olukumi has 21
Igala has 23
Yoruba has 18-21 depending on dialect
Itsekiri has 20

All these languages have Open syllabic systems, meaning consonants typically do not end words, except they are nasal (nasal m and n)
All have seven oral and five nasal vovels.
However some of these have phonological mutations that give them there distinctiveness, for example

Igala sometimes substitute the Yoruba "Sh" for "Ch"
Like for example
isu for uchu - yam
isẹ for uchẹ - work
se for che - do

"r" for "l" like
ara for ala - body
erun for elu - five

Same goes for some innovations in Itsekiri, Olukumi, and other Edo languages outside of Nigeria.

Many of these differences in Igala (Including Ebu and Ogugu), Olukumi etc, are as a result of language contact with neighbouring groups.
Olukumi borrowed "Z" from language contact with Igbos, The Eastern Yorubas and Itsekiris got "Gh" "Gw" "Ny" etc from the Binis, while the Igalas got some modifications from Edos, Igbos and probably Idomas/Ebiras.

bigfrancis21:
https://www.nairaland.com/2616350/igbos-vs-yorubas-similarities-diversity

baby124:
Not possible. Olukumi and even Igala are Yoruboid languages. Olukumi can trace their heritage to Ondo. Olukumi means my friend in owo type of Yoruba. That is where they originate from.

bigfrancis21:
The facts laid out point to a possible evolution of Yoruba from an ancient Igbo dialect. Comparing Yoruba with Igbo, we notice a lot of over-simplification in the language and this is characteristic of children languages derived from parent languages.

baby124:
for Igbo it's simple, their language arrangements can never exist in Yoruba language and migratory patterns all support a move from Yoruba land into places like Igalla and even Ika through Benin. There may have been reverse migrations as well in the case of Akoko. By the way, most of those migrant Yoruba groups that spread all over the south are probably indigenous to the Ondo of today. For example, those Lukumi people and some Itshekiri. So it will make sense that some of them got to igboland. The Yoruba language is diverse, but no where will we find words that are arranged MKP, that is an abberration to Yoruba language in general but seems to exist in Igbo language and tribes the border Cameroon. For places like Benin with the GH's, it sound more like an accent issue gone wild.

Radoillo:
I'm still not understanding why the absence of 'MKP-' and similar formations in Yoruba makes it the original language. We have already demonstrated that this is a very widespread and ancient feature in Bantu and some Eastern Nigerian Languages (Igbo, Ibibio, etc). Why would the absence of this ancient feature in Yoruba make it the original language? It doesn't make philological sense.

In fact, from the point of view of phonetic complexity, I can make the argument that Igbo is a more ancient language than Yoruba. Linguists know that ancient languages have a greater deal of phonetic complexity than 'younger' languages which often show signs of having been simplified.

macof:
In one of your previous posts u were talking about the absence of "kp" in yoruba. Well, "kp" exists as "P" in writing. Anyone that reads yoruba knows that you pronounce "p" as "Kp".

But I do agree that Igbo is older than the mainstream yoruba dialect.... western yoruba dialects are also considered less complex than the eastern, probably cus of the greater exposure to the Oyo dialect

Radoillo:
I'm still not understanding why the absence of 'MKP-' and similar formations in Yoruba makes it the original language. We have already demonstrated that this is a very widespread and ancient feature in Bantu and some Eastern Nigerian Languages (Igbo, Ibibio, etc). Why would the absence of this ancient feature in Yoruba make it the original language? It doesn't make philological sense.

In fact, from the point of view of phonetic complexity, I can make the argument that Igbo is a more ancient language than Yoruba. Linguists know that ancient languages have a greater deal of phonetic complexity than 'younger' languages which often show signs of having been simplified.

baby124:
Lol you obviously do not know that Yoruba is actually more phonetic than Igbo. So I can't be arguing with you. It's obviously a tribal thing for you. Will it not make sense that the younger language will have a trace of these MKP's if it evolved from the older language? Yet, nothing like that exists, but when it comes to words spoken in Yoruba and how Yoruba will pronounce we have similarities, not vice versa. Yoruba subgroups show also that it is very hard for the language to be influenced and evolve. Case in point the lucumi, the Itshekiri and the Igala. Also note that the white men have been trading with Itshekiri since the 16th century. So they just didn't move to their Area. The Igala have been removed for much longer and history says they are the father's of some Igbo groups. Matter of fact they are indigenous to Igbo land. So no, Yoruba is a very ancient language and must have been the first in Southern Nigeria. If not, it would include some prefixes which the Igbo's use.

baby124:
Simplification of a language does not mean that the language is the not the original. Matter of fact, like the Igala, we can see that only about 30% of the language is traceable to Yoruba. Itshekiri is about 80%. So it's obvious that the longer removed, the more the language evolves. For these 2 languages to still have a connection with Yoruba after centuries of separation shows that the language is quite original. By the way, Yoruba language is not simple. It is the OYO dialect that is simple. And that is because it is the central language which was adopted as a result of the OYO Empire. Have you heard the Ijebu and Ondo dialect? I am Yoruba and I don't understand it one bit. Those are the strangest Yoruba languages and they are the set of people that traveled the most. It also happens that those two groups are the progenitors of the Itschekiri and Olukumi. This same Ondo is very close to Akoko, so it's no coincidence given the dialects the Akoko speak. If an Ijebu speaks their dialect you will go into shock. Hahaha. This is why the OYO dialect was needed to bring all these related people together. Even an Itshekiri can understand the OYO dialect. Yoruba dialects vary widely. So Yoruba is not as simple as you think.

Some Yoruba Dialects
Wó̩ n ǹḿ rè̩ n nóru - this is Ijebu for they don't go out at night.
Éè s̩ e fífò̩ Ìyábò̩ fò̩ fò̩ múè̩ n - Ikale meaning Iyabo did not do all the talking

Èlú we eé ètó̩? - Ondo for how much are you selling it

Bàbá gháà fé̩ o̩ mo̩ ìn hunkún - introduction of the 'GH's' - that is the Okun people. Surprisingly Ijesha has this as well and the "wen" and "ren" Edo people use. Same with Ondo on the 'wen' and 'ren'

Omà ghá néè hó̩nkùn - ilaje with the 'GH' which they use. This means your child is crying.

Now compare all these different dialects with the OYO dialect you know. If they speak will you understand? Yoruba language is quite diverse and the accents as well. Even Ekiti is different

Moheat:
Go and read wide or better still listen to the news. You talk of ritualists yolobas are at the forefront, have you forgotten Soka in Ibadan not to mention all those rituals places in Ijebu. Is it armed robbery? Google Oyenusi, Shina Rambo, Mofu Olosa among others. Thuggery is deep rooted in Yoloba land. Like I mention earlier for the flat heads Igbo when that your dead dream failed to actualize I am talking about Biafruad and Buhari finishes with you guys then Edo people go get una time. We dont want the Igbos to suffer double jeopardy

tonychristopher:
Now that is over bloated ...but how will edo claim supremacy

Igbo presented NRI and Igbo ukwu civilisation


Yoruba presented ife civilisation


All these long before the small edo gathered momentum


So stop peddling edo

tonychristopher:
Eze Chima was an Igbo man that sourjourned in Benin , he prospered then fell out with the king he was on reverse migration back to Igbo land ..he formed most Igbo villages with his followers and slaves from agbor to onicha Igbo then onicha mili

The name Eze Chima was an Igbo name and the evidence is still there and mind you Benin never influenced Onitsha

Some parts of Onitsha came from iguedo the only NRI daughter with nsugbe et al