Yoruba Proverbs and Their Meaning

1. Ẹnu ò mẹnu, ètè ò métè ní kó ọ̀ràn bá ẹ̀rẹ̀kẹ́

Meaning: Excessive talk brings insult.

2. Ẹni t'ó yá ẹgbẹ̀fà tí kò san, o bẹ́gi dínà ẹgbàá

Meaning: A person who has defaulted on repaying 1,200 disqualifies himself or herself from a credit of 2,000 from the same source.

3. Ẹni tó sọ pé kárá ilé òun má là, ará òde ní yóò yaa lọ́fà

Meaning: He who wishes poverty for his or her relations will end up as a bond-man in the hands of strangers

4. Ẹni tó lẹlẹ́dẹ̀ ló lẹ̀ẹ̀dẹ̀

Meaning: The owner of the pigs owns or dominates the compound.

5. Ẹni tó jogún kógún, ìtàn kítàn ni yóò máa pa

Meaning: He or she who illicitly inherits will live to tell fictitious stories to back up his or her illegal act.

Names meaning "Abundance" are names beginning with: "Ọ̀PÁ

Names that start with Ọ̀PÁ suggest there was an abundance at the time of birth of a child. Examples of such names are:

1. Ọ̀pákúnlé: Abundance fills the house.

2. Ọ̀pálẹ́yẹ: Abundance confers dignity.

3. Ọ̀páyẹmí: Abundance suits me.

4. Ọlọ́pàádé: The one who lives in abundance is here or worshiper of the god of abundance is here

The list is endless.

Names suggesting reincarnation

The Yoruba belief is that if a newborn arrives  into a family, after the death of a member of the family, the dead is said to have revisited the clan. As a result, the following names are common in Yoruba land:

1. Babatunde: Father comes a second time

2. Yetunde: Mother comes a second time

3. Iyabo: Mother returns

4. Babatunji: Father wakes up

5. Babajide: Father is here

6. Omodeinde: The child comes back

7. Omodeinbo: The child comes back

8. Enilo(lobo): It is the person who went away that returned

9. Yewande: Mother comes back to me

10. Yejide: Mother is here

Yoruba Proverbs

Ẹní bá sùn là n jí, a kì í jí  apirọ́

Meaning: We can only wake a person sleeping, we do not wake someone pretending to be asleep

Yorùbá: The Noun Phrase

XY is about the simplest construction in Yorùbá language, where X is a noun and Y is another noun juxtaposed to X. Noun Y qualifies noun X. The following Yorùbá names are examples:


(The)  X       (of)         Y                         Name
        Adé                   ọlá                         Adéọlá    (Thecrown of high estate)
        Ọlá                    ifá                        ọláifá        (The high estate of the oracle)
        Iyì                     ọlá                         Iyìọlá       (The prestige of high status)
       Àánú                 olú                        Àánúolú    (The mercy of God)
       Ilé                     Ọlọ́run                  IléỌlọ́run   (The house of God)

The above are about the simplest grammatical construction in  Yorùbá language.        

Yorùbá Names: The Structural and Cultural Denotation

Understanding the structure of Yoruba names is very important while teaching Yoruba language. The structure of Yoruba names mostly serves as the foundation for the structure of a speech, because Yoruba names are structured like phrases and sentences. e.g. Olú rẹ̀ mí lẹ́ kún - a sentence, the name is written as Olúrẹ̀mílẹ́kún.

There is no doubt personal and place names are some of the oldest elements in the Yoruba language. A study of these names will unveil a lot of facts about the Yoruba culture and importantly, the syntax and morphology of the Yoruba language.

I would like us to take a journey through classification of Yoruba names structurally and culturally, while I reference the book, "Yoruba names: their structure and their meanings by Modupe Oduyoye, 1971".

Kí  lo rí  lọ́ bẹ̀ tó fi wa ro ọwọ́ 

Literal Meaning: What did you see in the soup that made you hold back your hand

Denotative Meaning: