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KingsOfKings

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@IronFist I'm wondering if in Yoroba culture the concept of "Iwa Pele" or the term(s) themselves are used regularly in everyday lexicon, and how.
Or...could at some point in history a Black American went to a Yoroba person and asked, "How do you say 'good character'?" And that person answered by saying (Iwa' Pele).

Is there a way to find this out for certain. Are there proverbs Indigenous to Yoruba culture that incorporate "Iwa Pele?"

I'm asking because we have many terms and phrases that are NOT Indigenous to the original language and culture.

Abibifahodie is one example. We only have this term because a Black American asked a Twi speaking person "How do I see Black Liberation in Twi?"
But conversely, none of the Akan Twi speaking people or proverbs use this term or phrase (Abibifahodie)
 

IronFist

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@IronFist I'm wondering if in Yoroba culture the concept of "Iwa Pele" or the term(s) themselves are used regularly in everyday lexicon, and how.
Or...could at some point in history a Black American went to a Yoroba person and asked, "How do you say 'good character'?" And that person answered by saying (Iwa' Pele).

Is there a way to find this out for certain. Are there proverbs Indigenous to Yoruba culture that incorporate "Iwa Pele?"

I'm asking because we have many terms and phrases that are NOT Indigenous to the original language and culture.

Abibifahodie is one example. We only have this term because a Black American asked a Twi speaking person "How do I see Black Liberation in Twi?"
But conversely, none of the Akan Twi speaking people or proverbs use this term or phrase (Abibifahodie)
The Yorùbá phrase ìwà-kpɛ̀lɛ́ is part of a larger paradigm which includes the word ìwà "conduct, behavior, disposition, character, custom, manner, habit, a state of being in existence."


They include:
ìwà-agba "eldership"
ìwà-agbere "prostitution"
ìwà-aimɔ "a state of uncleanness"
ìwà-ɛda "nature"
ìwà-ika "barbarism"
ìwà-ɔrun "virtue, godliness"
ìwà-ɔtɔ "peculiarity"
ìwà-buburu "evil"
So ìwà-kpɛ̀lɛ́ is in the tradition of the grammar of Yorùbá language. The above were taken from a 1913 Yorùbá dictionary. Another dictionary (Grammar and Dictionary of the Yoruba language, 1858) also includes:
ìwà-ikpa "violence"
ìwà-titɔ "integrity, honesty"
ìwà-tutu "meekness"
ìwà-ibi / ìwà-ika "mischief"
ìwà-mimɔ "holiness"
ìwà-ara "brotherhood"
ìwà-ɔlɔrun "the Godhead"


So the word ìwà is used to describe the kind of character or behavior of a thing. It functions, almost grammatically, like the ki- prefix in Bantu (ci- in ciLuba). So I doubt African-Americans came to the Yorùbá and influenced the use of and coinage of ìwà-kpɛ̀lɛ́. How many Yorùbá use this term? I cannot say. The fact that ìwà-kpɛ̀lɛ́ is cognate with the phrase wnn-nfr (a title of Osiris) "perfect being/character" in ancient Egyptian clearly shows its antiquity.
 

IronFist

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329736884_3456824104639229_8810184840753550790_n.jpg


Ultimate Reality and Meaning According to the Acholi of Uganda"
Victor Ocaya,
University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
pg. 17
 

IronFist

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In Yoruba, Egyptian wr.t-ḥkȝ.w would translate into Oloògún. The ḥ- is dropped, forcing the long oo in oògún "medicine, juju" (activated by words of power) (cf Hausa: ma-gani “medicine”; ciLuba: bw-anga “medicine”]).
 

IronFist

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Initial consonant test 01 between Mangbetu and Egyptian (ciKam). Note, the ciKam entry mk "boat" is from the Second Intermediate Period (SIP). Based on some earlier original studies, I noticed that many words for "boat" start with m-. Could this have been a prefix for liquids? Note the word mw "water" in Egyptian. When you add the instrument prefix to the root you get j.mw "boat" (gen.) [Wb 1, 78.8-10]. This is why for that entry the initial consonant being argued is -k and not m-.
Appendix: A few examples:
ciKam:
mn.tj "a funerary boat"
mr.t "a boat" ~ wr.t "sacred barque; boat"
mXA "a boat" ~ mXn.t "ferry boat"
mSS "part of a boat"
mH "a boat" ~ mH.t "part of a boat (of acacia wood)"
ma.t "a boat"
mj.t "a funerary boat" ~ nmj.w "a boat"
mD.tj "a boat ("Tener"?)"
ciLuba:
mà.zuwà ~ mà.juwà "boat" (M-E: mr.t "a boat; barge" [syllabic inverse])
kiSwahili:
meli "boat, ship"
Kalenjiin:
mayiinket "boat, canoe" [yiiny "curve in"]; mayiing "beehive, canoe, boat" [yiing "bulge out"]
Yoruba:
ọkọ oju omi "ship, boat, sailboat" [ọkọ 'carrier'; oju 'eye, face'?; omi 'water']
Sumerian:
ma "ship, boat"
madu "a part of a boat"
maGIN "boat-builder"
mala "freight boat"
magur "barge; a geometric figure
ma-sal "a boat" Akk. mašallû
masu "deep-draught boat"
 
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