Some day we Yoruba will realise the genius of our forefathers. The Yoruba did not write but they developed a language that was similar to writing. The language was descriptive. Words meant exactly what they said.
Ajayi Crowder has described the Yoruba grammar. The typical Yoruba noun, for example, starts as a verb. The verb itself is constructed by adding a vowel to a consonant. For example, ‘d’ + ‘a’ gives rise to the verb ‘da’ meaning ‘to create’. Adding the prefix ‘e’, the noun maker, gives rise to the word ‘eda’ meaning ‘the created’. Adding the prefix ‘el’, the secondary noun maker, to ‘eda’ gives rise to the word ‘eleda’ meaning ‘the creator’. Accordingly, the way that Yoruba nouns are constructed lends itself to the technique of onomastic analysis to decipher the meaning.
Yoruba is a Yoruba word. Onomastic analysis suggests that the word ‘Yoruba’ is a compound word made up of ‘yo’ + ‘ru’ + ‘ba’, where ‘yo’ meant ‘he/she would’, ‘ru’ meant ‘to carry’ and ‘ba’ meant ‘to meet up with’. Put together, onomastic analysis suggests the word ‘Yoruba’ to mean ‘he/she would carry (something) and meet up with others of same ilk’. The word ‘Yoruba’ described the habit of ancient Yoruba traders of travelling together in convoys or ‘trader’s trains’ that traversed the length and breath of Yorubaland and beyond. Different traders embarked and disembarked the ‘trader’s train’ at their own local stop. In a land where there were no roads or means of transport other than ones feet, the advantages of the ‘trade train’ were comaraderie, mutual assistance, and safety. The tag ‘Yoruba’ was adopted by all just like all Ijesa adopted the tag ‘Osomalo’.
To those who say others named the Yoruba, consider this. Igbo is a putative Yoruba word made up of ‘i’ + ‘gbo’, where ‘i’ means ‘the thing’ and ‘gbo’ means ‘to butt head’ like agbo, the ram. Would the Igbo agree that the Yoruba named them ‘head case’? Hausa also is a putative Yoruba word made up of ‘a’ + ‘hu’ + ‘sa’, where ‘a’ means ‘we’, ‘hu’ means ‘to dig up’, and ‘sa’ means ‘to run’. Would the Hausa agree that the Yoruba named them ‘cowards’? It is difficult to fathom how any intelligent Yoruba would gleefully accept that the Fulani gave us the name Yoruba.
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