No need for long introductions. Igbo needs new terminology if it's going to successfully see the next century. So, I created this thread. We can coin anything we want here and discuss and create any new speech conventions we deem necessary or useful. We can start anywhere, but I think I'd like to start at the periodic table of elements, mostly because I'm feeling ambitious. I also believe the population density back home will eventually grow to a point where an intense or exclusive farming culture will not be sustainable. A new way of life (with emphasis in science and engineering) will be necessary if Igbo people themselves want to successfully see the next century as a culture (or cultures).

Anyway, I fully intend to move forward with coining new terminology, regardless of whether or not this thread sees much activity.

Now, for the periodic table of elements. Coining terminology for the periodic table of elements might seem daunting (it probably is), but it's not as if it cannot be done. Much of the heavy lifting has already been done for us by chemists over the centuries. As any chemical engineering student will tell you, the periodic table has been systematized. When you look at the periodic table and read it from left to right, top to bottom, what you essentially see is a categorization based largely on atomic structure. The groundwork has been established. So, there is no need for us to coin terminology as if to say we are just now discovering these elements. Rather, we can follow the lead of the Chinese, for example, by systematically coining new words, based on the already existing groundwork. The question now is which systematic method do we want to use?

Do we consider a naming convention based on states of matter at room temperature? Or a naming convention based on atomic configuration? Personally, I favor a naming convention based on atomic number (proton counts). Alternatively, we could employ a systematic loan-word naming convention.

AjaanaOka, Scholti, anyone with an interest... I don't feel like tagging nye ukwu la nye nta.

I think I like a convention based on atomic number best for just one reason: since there would be a correspondence between name of element and it's atomic number, the student wouldn't have to memorise the atomic number for each element as I had to do in high school. (I always forgot them again after each test, and had begin a fresh round of memorising whenever there's a test around the corner )

My one fear is that such number-based names may not come out natural and elegant.

I'm really curious to see what you've come up with this far.

Exactly. This is what my brother and I were discussing a few hours before I created the thread, and it is the exact reason why I favor building a convention around atomic numbers. My brother and I both see the merit of the atomic number convention and its benefit toward teaching the periodic table of elements to Igbo children.

You're right to be concerned about the likely unnaturalness of the atomic number convention. Beyond that, it seems there is probably one other problem... expressing compounds. I'm just now thinking about this, but even if we are able to solve the 'number' part of the atomic number convention, we still have to deal with the idea of chemical compounds (i.e. dihydrogen monoxide, sodium tetraborate decahydrate etc.).

Attempting to use an atomic number convention would likely complicate the expression of chemical compounds. This new thought is enough to get me to reconsider the atomic number convention. Here's how I see this.

Using the atomic number convention, we might be able to create something along the lines of 'element-1' to 'element-118', with the numbers corresponding to the proton count. But, once chemical compounds arise, I see an immediate issue. Carbon would be the equivalent of 'element-6'. If we have to express carbon monoxide, it would be equivalent of saying 'element-6 one element-8'. Or what about the chemical compounds for the various sugars, like glucose C6 H12 06. That is six carbon, twelve hydrogens, and six oxygens. Essentially, 'six element-6 12 element-1 six element-8'. The atomic number convention seems enticing at first, but looking further down the line, I see it causing more problems for us *sigh*. I really liked the prospects of this naming convention too.

The thing is though, in our household, we have already developed a speech convention to make it easier discussing numbers. For instance, we can express a number like 1967 both compactly and normally. Do we want to try using that my family's speech convention before we completely write off the convention based off the atomic number? There is always the likelihood that it will not be as bad I am suspecting.. it might work.

Alright. So, here goes the attempt to use my family's speech convention for the atomic number naming convention. This might take some explaining, but I'll try to make it concise.

I'm not sure how many Igbo people are actually aware of this, but our number system is base 20. It's funny. Our system is base 20, but Igbo people attempt to count numbers in base 10. Anyway, when counting in Ngwa, in our household, we follow the base 20 system.

For those who may be reading, but do not know what base 20 is, here is a brief explanation. I only hope people can follow along.

Base 20 has the following placeholders (using Ngwa as an example):

    nde            pughu        nnu       ohu      nnaa
    160,000        8,000        400        20        1

In a base 20 system, each placeholder takes 20 values (including zero).

Now, for the sake of explanation, lets assume that the following are our digits:

base-20: 0  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I   J
base-10: 0  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19

Following the above, we get the following representations:
Base 10 :: Base 20
100 :: 50
210 :: AA
1,000 :: 2A0

Now, here comes the naming convention. In normal counting, the above values would be rendered as:
1. 50 - ohu isne (five twenty)
2. AA - ohu iri la iri (ten twenty and ten)
3. 2A0 - nnu abuo la ohu iri (two four hundred and ten twenty)

The speech convention we developed has two parts. The first is the issue of numbers after iri (10). Typically, Igbo people will say iri la .. (ten and), but a problem arises. It creates a bit of ambiguity that we found annoying when dealing with math/algebra. An example of this is the expression 'ohu iri la isne'. Due to how the number system is typically treated, this 'ohu iri la ise' could either mean 300 (ten and five by twenty) or 205 (ten by twenty and five). To correct this, we basically gave all the numbers from 11 to 19 names of their own, which are nothing more than contracted version without the 'la' conjunction.

So....
11 - irinna
12 - irabuo/arabuo/araa
13 - irato/arato
14 - irano/arano
15 - irisne
16 - irishii
17 - irasaa/arasaa
18 - irasato/arasato
19 - oteghite

The 'a-' variants were simply an attempt to mirror the millennium of sound shifts that occurred with the five based system... isne, ishii (five one), asaa (five two) asato (five three). Oteghite (ohu teghite) follows the contraction that happened with iteghite (iri teghite). Honestly, giving the numbers 11 - 19 names of their own was pretty easy. After this, we took that 'la' conjunction and decided to limit its use to just the place holders. This eliminates the annoying ambiguity we experienced between 300 and 205.

So, we went from...
300 - ohu iri la isne .. to .. ohu irisne (no 'la' conjunction because no other placeholder is voiced)
205 - ohu iri la isne .. remains .. ohu iri la isne (the 'la' conjunction because we voiced both 20 [ohu iri] and 1 [isne] placeholders)

So now, the speech convention for compactly expressing numbers. It may sound strange to some, but here is how we've handled it and it's worked just fine for us, to the point where we can express the year 2016.

The convention creates more contraction and basically maintains high tones throughout the number except for instances in which a tone is specifically low. The contraction works like this.

    nd-             pu-          n-        oh-      nnaa (one's place does not undergo contraction)
    160,000        8,000        400        20        1

So, using the 50 (100), AA (210), and 2A0 (1,000), we get this.
100 - one hundred; ohisne
210 - two ten; ohiri iri
1,000 - one thousand; nabuo ohiri

I realize this is a lot to take in, and if someone is not ready to think numerically/mathematically, then it can seem daunting. Also, it is a convention, and conventions always need to be learned. It's the same thing with language. Language itself is nothing more than a series of speech conventions that need to be learned.

Anyway, now that I've explained that, on to the period table of elements. We already have a word for element (oki - awki - all high tones), which is what we use when describing the composition (or ingredients) of an elo (chemical). The meaning of oki was expanded to refer to atoms. So, for us, it now means 'element (as in a basic composing unit of something) or atom'.

Now.... for the actual reason for this long post... the element names...

Using oki and the speech convention of our household, we would get the following:

1. Hydrogen - Okinna - element 1
2. Oxygen - Okiasato - element 8
3. Lead - Okiohanoabuo - element 82
4. Calcium - Okiohu - element 20

If we wanted, we could throw in a bit of contraction with some tone modulation and get...

1. Okinna (Hydrogen)
2. Okasato (Oxygen)
3. Okohanabuo (Lead)
4. Okohu (Calcium)

Well.... not bad actually. Now that I'm actually seeing this. I just ran this by my uncle (PhD in Chemical Engineering), and my younger brother (currently studying Electrical Engineering with a minor in Chemistry). It was well-received by them, but maybe they're biased, since they support and basically contribute to the development of new terminology in our household. Anyway, that's what I've come up with.

Overall, I would say this isn't bad. I don't expect the Igbo populace to adopt it though, mostly because I believe they'll mentally struggle with the number speech convention. But, after having shared it with my family, it seems like something we may soon adopt for our purposes. We already use the speech convention for the numbers, and we already use oki for 'element/atom'. Taking it a step further and naming the chemical elements doesn't seem like that much of a stretch for us.

I wouldn't be surprised if much of this made little sense to most, but if there are any questions (I expect there will be) feel free to ask. Tentatively, I think I'll stick with this naming convention for the periodic table, until I or anyone else can think up something better.

Just for the sake of saying that I tried...

dihydrogen monoxide (water)
okinna laabu okasato

carbon tetrahydride (methane)
okishii okinna laano

By the way, a long while ago, we found out that we could effectively say things like tri, tetra, deca, etc. using 'la' as a general preposition. Following the logic of laabu, any other number can be used to express the equivalent prefixes in English (i.e. tri - laato).

Wow! Let me read that again.

Did you guys coin the words 'oki' for element/atom and 'elo' for chemical, or did they already exist in Ngwa? Can't say that I know of any equivalents in my dialect.

'Oki' was coined specifically for 'element', but we casually use it to refer to 'atom' (though I'm starting to think we probably shouldn't).
'Elo' aready existed.

Translating part of a basic chemistry lesson from this university site.

Atoms
Oki

Atoms are the basic unit of chemistry. They consist of 3 smaller things:
Oki bu whe kii l'amumwhe elo. O kpu whe 3 ka ya ipe mpempe:

Protons - these are positively charged (+)
[protons] - nde na vu ekeke [positive] (+)

Electrons - these are negatively charged (-)
[electrons] - nde na vu ekeke [negative] (-)

Neutrons - these have no charge
[neutrons] - nde na evuu ekeke

These 3 smaller particles are arranged in a particular way. In the center is the Nucleus where you find the positive Protons and neutral Neutrons.
Ipiripe whe 3 ka ipe mpempe haziri otu o bu. L'agbalaabu bu omo ebe i ga-ihu [protons] vu ekeke [positive] la [neutrons] l'evuu ekeke.

In orbit around the nucleus are the Electrons. These are found in a series of orbits (depending on the atom) with differing numbers of electrons as seen below.
L'ogbagburugburu omo bu [electrons]. We di l'usoro ogbagburugburu (ma e lele oki o bu) nwere ogugu [electrons] di ichemiche dika l'okpuru.


This is basically how we would go about expressing this in our house. For the sake of the discussion, I purposely left out nasals and aspirants. Clearly, we will need the terms for protons, neutrons and electrons. But everything else can be pretty much explained without English.

Odumchi, BigFrancis21. I think the spam bot got ChinenyeN's comment here. Probably banned him as well. And we were kind of in the middle of an interesting discourse.

AjaanaOka:
Odumchi, BigFrancis21. I think the spam bot got ChinenyeN's comment here. Probably banned him as well. And we were kind of in the middle of an interesting discourse.

Unbanned.

AjaanaOka:
Odumchi, BigFrancis21. I think the spam bot got ChinenyeN's comment here. Probably banned him as well. And we were kind of in the middle of an interesting discourse.

Radoillo nwa awka a natanu.

Nna Kee ife chulu yi oso mbu?

LOL.

Mehn, I needed a break.

bigfrancis21:


Unbanned.

Oh good. It appears his comment here is still hidden.

Man, I'm just going to bypass this auto-ban thing for the short-term, because this topic seems worth it. Moderators, don't worry about making that previous post visible, because this will be the exact same thing, minus the link I initially wanted to share. The link itself isn't necessary at all. So I can let it be. I was only using it to attempt a gross translation of part of a chemistry lesson, but of course, the translation is lacking. I need to rework it, so it may take some time.

Anyway, 'oki' was coined, specifically for 'element'. We just casually expanded its usage to include 'atom' , but I'm starting to believe now that we shouldn't have done that. 'Elo' already existed.

ChinenyeNN:
Man, I'm just going to bypass this auto-ban thing for the short-term, because this topic seems worth it. Moderators, don't worry about making that previous post visible, because this will be the exact same thing, minus the link I initially wanted to share. The link itself isn't necessary at all. So I can let it be. I was only using it to attempt a gross translation of part of a chemistry lesson, but of course, the translation is lacking. I need to rework it, so it may take some time.

Anyway, 'oki' was coined, specifically for 'element'. We just casually expanded its usage to include 'atom' , but I'm starting to believe now that we shouldn't have done that. 'Elo' already existed.

Okay, interesting. Some minutes ago I was going through an Echie dictionary and I saw 'elo - chemical, venom'.

If you don’t mind me asking (and if it won't be getting off the topic), how was 'oki' coined - what's the etymology? I tried breaking it down, and got o + ki. Through our previous discussions about how nouns are derived from verb-roots by prefixing the verb-roots with a vowel I understand the role of the 'o'; but I'm still lost as to the original meaning of the root '-ki'.

Going through your proposed number-based names for the elements again, I can't help but think of what Achebe once said about the replacing of our indigenous twenty-based numerical system with the "in-line-with-the-West" ten-based system.

The ohu-based system is certainly more elegant, and yet because I've been taught at school to use the iri-based system and the iri-based system alone, I admit that I will struggle with this, and I think many people outside your household will struggle with it, too.

The ohu-based system has to come back; I don't even know whose big idea it was to change it in the first place. Achebe was right: the Igbo linguistics academia are killing the language.

The etymology is a little difficult to explain because there isn't any real logic to it (which part of language is actually truly logical anyway?). The only 'logical' aspect is where we made use of 'o' as part of the vowel prefixing convention, but that was only loosely, and just to create the final noun usage. The 'ki' does not refer to any actual verb root. Rather, it originally comes from 'akhu' (kernel) and 'hnii' (an object identifier -- hard to explain, but an already existing part of Ngwa speech). Basically:

'akhu-hnii' -> 'akhii' -> 'akhi' -> 'okhi' just to officially give it the final noun usage.
*I've been ridiculously inconsistent with my use of nasals and aspirants in this thread. *shrug*

We basically defined chemical elements as the kernels of chemicals.

AjaanaOka:
The ohu-based system is certainly more elegant, and yet because I've been taught at school to use the iri-based system and the iri-based system alone, I admit that I will struggle with this, and I think many people outside your household will struggle with it, too.

Yeah, I figured as much. Most Igbo that I have come in contact with aren't even aware that the number system is actually ohu-based. So, naturally, I believe that due to this discrepancy, the atomic number naming convention would probably not become widespread among general Igbo.

AjaanaOka:
The ohu-based system has to come back; I don't even know whose big idea it was to change it in the first place. Achebe was right: the Igbo linguistics academia are killing the language.

It goes without saying that I agree.

AjaanaOka:


Oh good. It appears his comment here is still hidden.

What is happening is that his post is under spam bot, and if he tries to modify it after being unhidden, it gets hidden again.

ChinenyeN, the post has been unhidden. Do not try modifying the post again, or it will get hidden again. You can continue your thoughts in a new post.

I'm really considering using a term for 'atom' that is separate from 'oki'. Reading through some basic chemistry lessons, I've become reminded of how the atom itself is more like a unit, unlike elements which are more like classifications. These classifications are not the atoms themselves. So, I think I'll backtrack a bit. I'll leave 'element' as 'oki', as we originally had it, and use 'aki' or 'akii' (akhu-hnii), since it represents the actual object unit itself.

Alright. Aki (atoms) and oki (elements). Alright, let me go find a basic chemistry lesson online and see if I can attempt a translation.

bigfrancis21:


What is happening is that his post is under spam bot, and if he tries to modify it after being unhidden, it gets hidden again.

ChinenyeN, the post has been unhidden. Do not try modifying the post again, or it will get hidden again. You can continue your thoughts in a new post.

I believe the issue was the link that I wanted to add. Either way, thanks. I think I'll just leave it alone and redo my translation in a separate post.

ChinenyeN:


I believe the issue was the link that I wanted to add. Either way, thanks. I think I'll just leave it alone and redo my translation in a separate post.

Aight brother. Good work you're doing on here. Keep it up.

Translation Attempt #2:

Atoms
Aki

Atoms are the basic unit of chemistry. They consist of 3 smaller things:
Aki bu nke ntu l'amumwhe-elo. Akpu we whe 3 dikara ntakiri:

Protons - these are positively charged (+)
[protons] - nde na vu ekeke zizizi (+)

Electrons - these are negatively charged (-)
[electrons] - nde na vu ekeke tetete (-)

Neutrons - these have no charge
[neutrons] - nde na evuu ekeke

These 3 smaller particles are arranged in a particular way. In the center is the Nucleus where you find the positive Protons and neutral Neutrons.
Ipiripe whe 3 na dikara ntakiri haziri otu o bu. L'etimeeti e nwere omo obe i ga-ihu [protons] vu ekeke zizizi la [neutrons] l'evuu ekeke.

In orbit around the nucleus are the Electrons. These are found in a series of orbits (depending on the atom) with differing numbers of electrons as seen below.
L'ogbagburugburu omo e nwere [electrons]. Nde na di l'usoro ogbagburugburu (ma e lee aki o bu) nwere ogugu [electrons] ke we iche dika l'okpuru.

The previous translation attempt is still a bit difficult to swallow, probably for any (or all) of the following reasons.

1. The fact that thinking about this subject matter in Igbo is currently still a clumsy affair.
2. I might be at fault for attempting to translate in such a way that it can seem comparable to the English text (possible transliteration).
3. I'm not actually writing it as I might normally speak.

Anyway, Translation Attempt #3: (writing in the way that I might actually be inclined to speak)

Akii.

Akii mbu nke ke ntu l'amumwhe-elo. O kpu whe 3 na nka ya ipe mpempe:

[protons] - nde na nvu ekeke zizizi (+)
[electrons] - nde na nvu ekeke tetete (-)
[neutrons] - nde na evuu ekeke

Ipiripe whe 3 na nka ipe mpempe nhaziri otu o bu. Omo ndi l'etimeeti, burukwa obe i ga-ihu [proton] nvu ekeke zizizi ma [neutron] l'evuu ekeke.
[Electron] mgbara omo gburugburu l'usoro (ma e lee akii o bu) ma oke [electron] nha nj'adi iche iche nula whe a hu l'okpuru.

Yeah, this definitely seems much more fluid in my mind and as I read it outloud to myself.

ChinenyeNN:
I'm really considering using a term for 'atom' that is separate from 'oki'. Reading through some basic chemistry lessons, I've become reminded of how the atom itself is more like a unit, unlike elements which are more like classifications. These classifications are not the atoms themselves. So, I think I'll backtrack a bit. I'll leave 'element' as 'oki', as we originally had it, and use 'aki' or 'akii' (akhu-hnii), since it represents the actual object unit itself.

Alright. Aki (atoms) and oki (elements). Alright, let me go find a basic chemistry lesson online and see if I can attempt a translation.

I was going to suggest ibooki for atoms.

Ibe (piece/fragment) + oki (element) = ibeoki = ibooki (by 'olilo udaume).

But aki is shorter, and better. I think it's better if coined words are as short as possible.

ChinenyeN:
The previous translation attempt is still a bit difficult to swallow, probably for any (or all) of the following reasons.

1. The fact that thinking about this subject matter in Igbo is currently still a clumsy affair.
2. I might be at fault for attempting to translate in such a way that it can seem comparable to the English text (possible transliteration).
3. I'm not actually writing it as I might normally speak.

Anyway, Translation Attempt #3: (writing in the way that I might actually be inclined to speak)

Akii.

Akii mbu nke ke ntu l'amumwhe-elo. O kpu whe 3 na nka ya ipe mpempe:

[protons] - nde na nvu ekeke zizizi (+)
[electrons] - nde na nvu ekeke tetete (-)
[neutrons] - nde na evuu ekeke

Ipiripe whe 3 na nka ipe mpempe nhaziri otu o bu. Omo ndi l'etimeeti, burukwa obe i ga-ihu [proton] nvu ekeke zizizi ma [neutron] l'evuu ekeke.
[Electron] mgbara omo gburugburu l'usoro (ma e lee akii o bu) ma oke [electron] nha nj'adi iche iche nula whe a hu l'okpuru.

Yeah, this definitely seems much more fluid in my mind and as I read it outloud to myself.

This is actually great. Thought of coining words for protons, neutrons and electrons yet? I was reading and I was thinking of creating a compound of my earlier suggested ibe and aki to serve as a general term for protons, neutrons and electrons... ibaaki.

Perhaps protons could be ibaaki izi, electrons ibaaki ete, neutrons ibaaki oto.

Thoughts?

I'm partly surprised that you didn't ask about how/where some of the words I used were coined, but partly not, because I expected you to have been able to at least recognize some and even deconstruct some others.

Anyway, ibaaki... subatomic particle. I'm not sure if you were thinking that far ahead, but with ibaaki, you've basically just provided our first step into translating for particle physics terminology. Nice. I like it.

Now, I take it that the 'oto' in ibaaki oto is 'bare, unclad'?

Let's see...
ibaaki (subatomic)
ibaaki izi (first recognizable subatomic, positively charged particle, proton)
ibaaki ete (first recognizable subatomic, negatively charged particle, electron)
ibaaki oto (first recognizable subatomic, non-charged particle, neutron)
ibaaki ntu (basic/foundational subatomic particle, elementary particles, quarks and leptons).

Translation Attempt #4:

Akii.

Akii mbu nke ke ntu l'amumwhe-elo. O kpu whe 3 na nka ya ipe mpempe:

Ibaaki izi - nde na nvu ekeke zizizi (+)
Ibaaki ete - nde na nvu ekeke tetete (-)
Ibaaki oto - nde na evuu ekeke

Ipiripe whe 3 na nka ipe mpempe nhaziri otu o bu. Omo ndi l'etimeeti, burukwa obe i ga-ihu ibaaki izi nvu ekeke zizizi ma ibaaki oto l'evuu ekeke.
Ibaaki ete mgbara omo gburugburu l'usoro (ma e lee akii o bu) ma oke ibaaki ete nha nj'adi iche iche nula whe a hu l'okpuru.

A full... no, the first full translation of the start of a basic chemistry lesson. Congratulations, we've done it (or at least, have begun to do it).

------------------------------------------------------

There might be some linguistic ambiguity with the ibaaki compound words. This is due to the fact that even elementary particles can be found with and without charges. For example, we are using ibaaki ete for electron, but there also exist electron neutrinos (essentially, another ibaaki oto that is not a neutron). Quarks are also elementary particles (ibaaki ntu) that can be found with negative charges (an ibaaki ete that is not an electron). Personally, I do not believe this is anything to worry about. It is not my intention to have us resolve all the issues in chemical, particle and quantum physics. Those fields are specialties for a reason and I am tempted to leave it to future Igbo-speaking physicists to resolve that for us.

After all, the same conflict was experienced by physicists in the past. Two physicists both named their discoveries 'neutrons', even though only one of them is actually the neutron that we know today. This linguistic conflict was resolved by a different physicist at a later date. So, we ought not worry. It will be resolved, either by Igbo-speaking physicists or later on by us in this thread. For the time being though, let's just enjoy this current accomplishment of basic chemistry in Igbo.

ChinenyeN, don't you think your work would be better appreciated if you used Igbo Izugbe instead? I'm sure a lot of people would find the ngwa dialect difficult to understand.

Bigfrancis21, I've considered that, but there is a problem. I don't actively speak Izugbe. Also, there are things that I can quite easily express in Ngwa (without having to coin new terminology) that have no suitable equivalents in Izugbe (that I could find). Also, Ngwa is what we use in our household. There are numerous terms that we have coined (relatively easy) in Ngwa that we would not have been able to coin as easily in Izugbe. For example, element and atom are based on 'hnii', an expression which I don't know has any Izugbe equivalents. To me, Izugbe is limiting. It is not expressive enough.

Lastly, I'm not sure I care to actually try in Izugbe. I'm not really seeking appreciation. Rather, I'm seeking to get Igbo people off their asses. I believe in putting the indigenous lects before Izugbe, and my efforts now are more like an attempt to instigate change by proving that the indigenous lects already have what it takes, using Ngwa and my family as a case-in-point.

Continuing the basic chemistry lesson found at the Penn State university website...

Interaction of Atoms
Mkparikata Akii

It's the electrons in orbit around the nucleus that allow one atom to interact with other atoms so they can be linked together.
O bu ibaaki ete l'agba omo gburugburu kwere akii nnaa akparita akii odo, we elikata.

For example, H2O consists of an Oxygen atom linked to 2 Hydrogen atoms. The linkage or interaction between the electrons of the Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms is called a Chemical Bond. More on these later.
Iji maa atu, H2O kpu akii Okaasato e liri akii Okinna abuo. Uli ma o bu mkparikata di l'agbalaabu ibaaki ete ke akii Okinna la Okaasata bu whe a kporo mgbakpu elo. A kakwuo maka ya mgba odo.

Is it just me, or are the translations shorter than English, yet fully conveying the point?

ChinenyeN:
I'm partly surprised that you didn't ask about how/where some of the words I used were coined, but partly not, because I expected you to have been able to at least recognize some and even deconstruct some others.

LOL. To be honest, I'm not sure I successfully figured them out. I made some conjectures as to what they could mean and forged on. I was going to ask for clarification later.

From an old conversation where we tried to break down iteghete, and from a later follow-up interesting comment you dropped on how you've been able to apply what we learnt in mathematics, I guessed tetete means negative.

Zizizi sounded to me like you derived it from 'ezi' - good, genuine, positive.

Ekekeke. I didn't know what to make of this. But I thought of expressions like chakee (resplendent) and gbakee (recover). And I thought the -ke is suggestive of vitality, revitalise, charged, charge.

This was how I explained them to myself. I don't know how close I came to the meanings you intended.

Now, I take it that the 'oto' in ibaaki oto is 'bare, unclad'?

Yep, that's it. Bare.

ChinenyeN:
Is it just me, or are the translations shorter than English, yet fully conveying the point?

Yes, they are!

My chemistry is a lot rusty. What parts do omo and mkpo represent in the structures, and what are the etymologies?