₦airaland Forum

Goodboiy:
yes very very correct.. oka is corn in Urhobo

Oka is also corn or grain in Yoruba. I just remembered that there is this brown grain, that is used in making brown pap. Yorubas call it Okà bàbà. But most time we call corn Àgbàdo

Kirigidi:
@Uncjay, why all these insults nd aggressiv words! Did u even undastand my post, u who claim to knw so much? I was only pointin out to OP dat he shuldn't b hasty in his conclusion dat all of those words were borrowd by Urhobo frm Yoruba nd Igbo languages just because Urhobo is a minority language. Dat there is also possibility dat som of those words ar aborigine to d Urhobo language, nd were rather even borrowd frm us by Yoruba nd Igbo languages. For ur informatn, I hav good sense of history nd I knw wat I just pointed out for correctn.

Bros I don't seem to understand how you justify certain things and judge another, it's unfortunate when your comments are been quoted and objectively criticize that it suddenly becomes an insult or abuses. If only you read me well and not base your interest on areas you think I insulted you probably you'd have get my point. I concur to the fact that no language is absolutely independent in itself (u shud check again), and before you can claim anything you should do the needful homework, is that not my assertion that now becomes an insult? That Urhobo borrow from Igbo and Yoruba does not make the language any less unique and vice versa, but you indicted the op because he say they borrow those words and not the other way round, minority is a taboo to you, and that's why anywhere you hear or see it you consider yourself a taboo trying hard to paint another picture...all languages are unique and I respect that I don't know you. So stop peddling hate cos Urhobo is not the only language that lends....


Your last sentence show obvious you lack confidence in yourself, the simple truth is there won't be need for this because all you would have done is constructively fetch out the root of those words as existed in Urhobo and established your argument period.

fr3do:
you too talk!
Just read!

Just read what? Ara agbakwa la gi there. I asked a question and the least you can do is to answer the questions but of course you had to join forces with them. Identity crises from 100bc.

Goodboiy:
Only few clan in Isoko speak the Igboid language.. maybe 6%. Isoko is pure Edoid.. they only speak the Igboid language due to communication.. All clan in Urhobo and Isoko Remain Edoid.. nobody can twist The history of my People.. As for the Aragba orogun people they were only Influenced with Anioma language.. but they still remain Urhobo and nobody can change that.

The Orogun people are said to have migrated from present day Aboh, hence the name ebo-orogun. The Abohs speak Ukwuani language which is Igboid. Aboh trace their ancestral origin to Bini. For this reason the orogun have striking cultural similarities to the Abohs, such as language and things they forbid(killing iguanas and consuming snail and cocoyam).

People no dey sleep for this thread.

bigfrancis21:
I believe he simply asked you for clarification, and I expect you to explain better the meaning of that phrase you gave because you seemed to be implying that the Ukwuanis and Ikas were not Igbo-speaking originally but Igbonized 'due to closeness to the Igbos'. The impression you're giving off on this thread is one of learning and knowledge, now further explain what you meant when you wrote that comment in bold.

Goodboiy is right on that one, we ukwuanis don't see ourselves as igbos, we trace our ancestry to bini and we have a strong oral history that documents our migration from bini

fratermathy:
Keep preaching disunity! Ride on Mr.

Do not quote me if you're riding on sentiment rather than fact. The Hausa and Fulani people are not one and the same people. Same thing with the Urhobo and Isoko people.

Don't get it twisted. Each ethnicity have their unique heritage. Celebrate the uniqueness and talk about collective agreement to live together in peace. Not clumping everyone together on the altar of unity. It is insensitive and myopic.

Ihuomadinihu:
Just read what? Ara agbakwa la gi there. I asked a question and the least you can do is to answer the questions but of course you had to join forces with them. Identity crises from 100bc.

You and I know that the Urhobos and Isokos are 'minority' groups and they cherish that status.
They are also generally igbophobic, you see them wailing that they have entered one chance because an Ifeanyi is their governor, they believe Igbos are expansionists and land grabbers (thanks to the lagos-ibadan expressway media houses)
Even though it may be true, blatantly saying that some of them are partly Igbo will potray you as an expansionist and a land grabber in their eyes.
I know how their minds work.

Besides, na you madness go strike

fratermathy:
Lovely thread! Make I go ready my ekpeti first.
****************************************

Ekpeti don set.

Although I wont restrict mine to Igbo/Yoruba


a.isikuru English: school
b.igalasi English: glass
c.akiteti English: architect
d.itaba Portuguese: tabaco (Tobacco)
e.Osete Portuguese: serta (Plate)
f.utujoro Portuguese: tesoura (Scissors)
g.uririen Portuguese: unie (an ingredient for pepper soup)
h.oleso Portuguese leso (handkerchief)
i.inama Hausa: nama (cow meat)
j.ibo English: ball
k.itomatosi Portuguese: tomato
l.ikpekere Yoruba: kpekere (plantain chips)
m.ejime Igbo: ejime (twin)
n.osusu Yoruba: osusu (monthly savings)
o. ikeki English: cake
p.imidaka Portuguese: mandioca (Cassava)
q.ugu Igbo: ugu (vegetable)
r.akpere Yoruba: akpere (basket)
s. imanu Hausa: malu (cow)
t. ifiniya Portuguese: farinha (tapioca)
u.isabatu Portuguese: sapato (sandals)
v.igho Portuguese: igos/iguou (money)
w.agbero Yoruba: agbero (tout)
x.akara Yoruba: akara (beans cake)
y.iyasere Edo: iyasere (prime minister)
z.isuya Hausa: suyah (roasted beef)
Alphabet don finish o Goodboiy. Freemanan permission to carry on?
i. akpu Igbo: akpu (Fufu)
ii.ibanki English: bank
iii.ikomputa English: computer
iv.ibroda English: brother
v.oro Portuguese: ouro (gold)

That's all I have for now.
**********************
This post is subject to further edits if more ideas come . Lalasticlala, Seun, Dominique, Obinoscopy and Oam4j, please take note and beware of my sons, Goodboiy, Freemanan, Alkarulezz, Freeemanan, Scholes0 and Onuwaje, emo zighizighi!

I guess u.added my dialect etuno igarra to this lol

fratermathy:
Urhobo is lingustically more like Afemai and Etsako. However, we are culturally like Bini and Esan. But we certainly have NOTHING akin with Igbo. If you say yoruba, I'd skeptically reserve my comments but not Igbo! Definitely not Igbo.

This is not me being sentimental but I'm simply stating facts. Urhobos are not connected with Igbos using any cultural or linguistic framework available. Those loaned words are simply a product of contact and it may have gone the other way round. I.e. Borrowed from Urhobo. However, in any case, we must live as one and recognise our unity but we should never be lumped together with Igbos.

I didn't said urhobo has affinity with igbos, what I am saying is that, some part of isoko like igbide has affinity with igbos..

Urhobo people re purely different from us and we can't lumped together with them.
We igbos re unique and we know ourselves. Pls Try to get the picture clear. We re talking about some tribes in isoko not urhobo and can never be urhobo biko..

clefstone:
Goodboiy is right on that one, we ukwuanis don't see ourselves as igbos, we trace our ancestry to bini and we have a strong oral history that documents our migration from bini

The language I hear my Ndokwa family members speak is basically Igbo with some shared words with edo and some unique words entirely.
Fine! Your nobles may have migrated from bini but they met a well established aboriginal Igbo population.
If not, where did the Igbo come from?

clefstone:
Goodboiy is right on that one, we ukwuanis don't see ourselves as igbos, we trace our ancestry to bini and we have a strong oral history that documents our migration from bini

Yet Bini yesterday, today and tomorrow continue to call you 'ovigbo'. LOL.

Goodboiy:
Lolz.. BRo re you sure ?.. I did research b4 posting that @bolded.. pls do. confirm it. so I can modify it.. asap

It is esusu or eesu

macof

fratermathy:
Ego/Igho both come from Portuguese. That word and all its variants are not ours to claim.

Ego is not Portuguese, It's Igbo. It originally means cowry.

Goodboiy:
Omona = This child
Emoor = Children
Omo = Child

I really wish u could understand edo language.. All these words you ascribe to yoruba are edo words, and they have the same stress patterns with urhobo words. For instance Omo is child in bini and urhobo, and is pronounced exactly the same way. Quite different from the way yoruba pronounce theirs. Waado means the same thing in urhobo and benin with similar pronunciation

trapQ:
compound..
grate!!!

since the day I saw your comments on nairaland/politics, you re always obsessed about igbos. Why ? Did an igbo guy dumb you?
Anyway I don't ve issues with an uhrobos here, I need an igbide person from isoko to tell me about their lineage.

Igbophobia.

pazienza:
No acculturation took place in Ukwuani, Ika or Ikwerre.

It is unprecedented in the history of humans, for a people to completely discard their language for the language of their neighbors without the use of force.

There was no Igbo empire to have forced Igbo language on those groups, and even in cases of acculturation, there are usually evidences of dead language, but there are no such things for those groups.

Ndiigbo also traded and had interactions with smaller groups like Ogoni, Idoma, Ekoi, Annang and Igala( Ibaji) , and non Of those groups are Igbo speaking today, few of them that speak Igbo at all, do so as a second language.

On the contrary, Bini was an imperialistic power, it is only logical that the Bini connections these groups speak of has everything to do with Bini imperialism rather than real ancestral relationship.

Half baked theories without proof, literature and logical soundness. how can these groups be referring to imperialism ? This means that all the lands uthman dan fodio invaded should have claimed him as their ancestor and had fulfude words in their dialects down to the old Oyo at kabba!!
Let's take an example, Oza-nogogo in IKA SW, they claim they were original bini speakers, then a benin king who was being chased through their land placed a spell on them, changing their dialect so his pursuers wouldn't knoW which way he went! The story is ridiculous anyway, but it doesn't change the fact that they bear edo names, they speak edo language fluently and have edo customs. And the story is similar in most towns around that axis, meaning that there had to be a real contact with the empire and not a mere subjugative relationship and moreover these towns are far too young to have been rivals to benin.

Note that benin foreign war policy was that captured towns were never allowed to speak edo language, NEVER! Instead princes and warriors were stationed there to start their own groups. Therefore any group that had bini words or bini variant dialect had to be from the source. And binis were not inland traders, so that removes the assumption that these words were loaned out due to trade contact. We only did internaational trade with the portuguese and our citizens were never sold out as slaves, so they could not have taken our language ouT.

[s]

IlekeHD:
Do something useful and go protest, tout. You're nothing but a result of a spoilt of war and an Hausa soldier.

[/s]
Go find the men responsible for your bastard kids, ugly roadside slut!

ezeagu:
Yet Bini yesterday, today and tomorrow continue to call you 'ovigbo'. LOL.

We don't call them OVWIGBO, except the ones who insist they are igbos! We have specific names for ethnic groups though this knowledge is gradually being lost

fratermathy:
I am not suggesting anything!

Ikas and Ukwuanis, as well as Ikwerres, claim to be originally Edos! Today they speak Igbo. A mass acculturation took place. It is obvious like the Teke Teke Mene Upharsin! If you negate this fact, it means these aforementioned tribes are liars! I do not want to believe that more than 30million people will lie about this.

Acculturation may be voluntary, by mistake or imposed. In whatever case, it happened! Let's move beyond that.

Urhobos were never acculturated. However, the Igbo language was seen as a Language of advantage and commerce and thus Igbo people were warmly embraced, ergo, linguistic items were shared. The donor and recipient remains a subject of debate.

I don't know about Ukuwani or Ikwere, but Ika has never claimed to be "originally Edo", or whatever that means. Whenever an Ika person wants to disassociate from the larger Igbo group who they share most culture with, they'll either say that Ika is a unique ethnic group with Igbo and Edo influence, or they'll point to their families outside Ishan or whatever origin. There has never been a time Ika people have claimed to be Edo, in fact the truth is the opposite. Bini people call them 'ovigbo' meaning Igbo people and Igbanke and other Igbo or 'Ika' groups in Edo State have been trying to reunite with Agbor. The Ika people only share some family history and political/structural ties with Edo people.

The Obi of Owa acknowledges that Owa is of Nri-Igbo origin by the way.

ezeagu:
Ego is not Portuguese, It's Igbo. It originally means cowry.

The benin word for cowrie is IKPIGHO

clefstone:
The Orogun people are said to have migrated from present day Aboh, hence the name ebo-orogun. The Abohs speak Ukwuani language which is Igboid. Aboh trace their ancestral origin to Bini. For this reason the orogun have striking cultural similarities to the Abohs, such as language and things they forbid(killing iguanas and consuming snail and cocoyam).

Aboh people of Delta state are pure Igbo just like all Igbo communities on both sides of River Niger. The claim of Benin origin is a false fantasy. It has been proved that the Eze Chima groups and the recent settlers at Aboh were all Igbo. Both the autochtonous and recent settlers of Aboh were pure Igbo people.

rexbuton:
We don't call them OVWIGBO, except the ones who insist they are igbos! We have specific names for ethnic groups though this knowledge is gradually being lost

And who are the ones that insist they are Igbo? This is just nonsense, Ika, Ukwuani and other Igbo groups in Delta State and so on are called Ovigbo, whether they 'insist' or not.

ezeagu:
Ego is not Portuguese, It's Igbo. It originally means cowry.

We have a word for cowrie where I'm from. It's ayo or ayolo. Ego is just generic for money. Thus we say ego ayolo (literally cowrie money) when referring to cowries in their role as money, but in every other context we simply call it ayolo.

ezeagu:
And who are the ones that insist they are Igbo? This is just nonsense, Ika, Ukwuani and other Igbo groups in Delta State and so on are called Ovigbo, whether they 'insist' or not.

Edos do not call AGBORs igbo people, we aren't that uninformed. Rather we wonder why others keep insisting they are igbo groups

www.nairaland.com/2196905/politics-ika-ndigbo-unearthing-facts

Radoillo:
We have a word for cowrie where I'm from. It's ayo or ayolo. Ego is just generic for money. Thus we say ego ayolo (literally cowrie money) when referring to cowries in their role as money, but in every other context we simply call it ayolo.

I guess it's a dialect thing or maybe ego has just been replaced, but terms like 'akpa ego' and so on were measurements in cowries. It could be ayoro (which I'm guessing comes from the sound of shells in a bag) is a way of differentiating cowry money from other types.

rexbuton:
Edos do not call AGBORs igbo people, we aren't that uninformed. Rather we wonder why others keep insisting they are igbo groups

www.nairaland.com/2196905/politics-ika-ndigbo-unearthing-facts

The stuff you're posting is from the recent politics around Ika origin mostly online. In reality, 'Agbor people' are ovigbo and if you ask an Agbor person yesterday, today or tomorrow they will say the same, to deny this is to lie or to be uninformed. That is why there were Biafra soldiers from Agbor and why the Edo people complained about being invaded by Biafra while the people of Anioma didn't.

Agbor people are taught Standard Igbo in school by the way, not standard Edo.

clefstone:
The Orogun people are said to have migrated from present day Aboh, hence the name ebo-orogun. The Abohs speak Ukwuani language which is Igboid. Aboh trace their ancestral origin to Bini. For this reason the orogun have striking cultural similarities to the Abohs, such as language and things they forbid(killing iguanas and consuming snail and cocoyam).

Orogun people did not migrate from anywhere. Please don't distort history. Orogun is the name of the wife of one of the original expansionists from Ughelli. The wife is an Ndokwa woman. The people never migrated from anywhere like you said. The so-called totems you mentioned have perfectly explainable histories behind them in Orogun. Ndokwas may have joined the original Orogun people later on but do not insinuate that Orogun people migrated. It is not funny and it is a show of bad historiography.

ezeagu:
I guess it's a dialect thing or maybe ego has just been replaced, but terms like 'akpa ego' and so on were measurements in cowries. It could be ayoro (which I'm guessing comes from the sound of shells in a bag) is a way of differentiating cowry money from other types.

I see your point. I also understand what you said about ayolo possibly being onomatopoeic. I also feel that could be the case.

However, I believe the idea of money, and buying and selling for profit predates the coming of cowries to Southern Nigeria. Cowries come from the Indian Ocean, and probably reached us at a later point in history - across the Sahara, or even much later than that from across the Atlantic, courtesy of the Portuguese.

There are cognate words across southern Nigeria, from Yoruba to Ibibio that suggests an ancient (probably pre-cowrie-era) word for money, and that word must have sounded very close to 'ego', with a '-go/-gho' element.

Owo (western Yoruba) ---Ogho (Eastern Yoruba) ---- Igho (Edoid) ---- Ego (Igbo).

Even Ibibio-Efik/Eastern Igbo 'okpogho/okpoho' seem to be part of this cognate group of words that mean 'money', as suggested by the '-gho' component.


Probably, as cowries displaced earlier forms of currency (strips of cloth? pieces of iron? salt?), they (cowries) came to appropriate the word 'ego' for themselves. Similarly, as manillas displaced older forms of currency in the Cross River zone, they also came to appropriate the word 'okpoho/okpogho' for themselves.

But words like eyo (Yoruba for cowries) and ayo/ayolo (Igbo for cowries) survive as reminders that cowries formerly had a proper word for them that wasn't 'ego/igho/ogho/owo'.

fr3do:
You and I know that the Urhobos and Isokos are 'minority' groups and they cherish that status.
They are also generally igbophobic, you see them wailing that they have entered one chance because an Ifeanyi is their governor, they believe Igbos are expansionists and land grabbers (thanks to the lagos-ibadan expressway media houses)
Even though it may be true, blatantly saying that some of them are partly Igbo will potray you as an expansionist and a land grabber in their eyes.
I know how their minds work.

Besides, na you madness go strike

We may be minorities but we are not appendages. We love our unique identity and nobody can take that from us. Atleast we dont cry about Edo marginalising us or denying us.
The average Urhobo man is indifferent to Igbos. They are not our problem. Infact, we'd rather pay attention to Itsekiris than Igbos. Ifeanyi would never have won any election in Delta without the Urhobo PDP cabals that worked for him in Delta central and south. It's only those that don't know what happened and what will happen that wail about this.

Once again, we don't care about Igbos! We are indifferent to them. However, we would never agree to be lumped together, using any framework whatsoever, with Igbos.

Ilaje44:
So you're insinuating that the people had no word for money until the arrival of the Portuguese?

Can you please tell us the Portuguese word for money, and explain how it became "ego", "igho"? Ogho definitely has nothing to do with Portuguese. Cowry used to be a legal tender in many African societies prior to the coming of the Europeans, and it is called "eyogho" (eyo ogho) in Ilaje.

smartec:
It' just your hate for the igbos that why you are trying to deny that some uhrobo are Igbos. Go check your history very well. Or do some research

Urhobo, which I can assertively speak on, loaned Igho from the Portuguese word Igou/Igos which means money. However this money implied here is in the form of coins or paper legal tender. The forms of money we used before contact with Portuguese were cowries and trade-by-barter and there are Urhobo terms for both that are not loaned.

on the contrary I've never dated an Igbo and I don't hate igbos neither do I fear them.

till date, the most reasonable friend I've ever had is Igbo and his name is Chinedu. so I don't hate igbos. my problem with some biafran agitators tho is that they go about insulting the Yorubas, hausas and fulanis. that is barbaric to me. they also insult fellow igbos that don't conform with the biafra.

IGBOPRINCE:
since the day I saw your comments on nairaland/politics, you re always obsessed about igbos. Why ? Did an igbo guy dumb you?
Anyway I don't ve issues with an uhrobos here, I need an igbide person from isoko to tell me about their lineage.

Igbophobia.