The Origin of the word Yoruba

Attention has been drawn to the origin of the word Yoruba and, the postulations prevailing point to very interesting ideas requiring further examination.

The word Yoruba has been said to be derived from the word Yarriba which is an Arabic or Hausa word.

Quoting Mr Seyi Sotubo on the Àṣàalàyè forum, “ Yoruba . . . . is an appellation given to us by our Northern neighbours when they see the different nationalities that make up the OÒDUÀ (Odùduwà) nation communicating effortlessly at Ejìgbòmẹkùn”.

(Ejìgbò-ọmọ-ẹkùn is the name of the primordial market where all the esoteric transactions took place by equally primordial beings).

According to historical accounts, it was a Northern Nigerian scholar, Ahmed Baba al Massufi, who coined the term to describe the people of the Ọ̀yọ́, Empire. Initially, the term was used describe the people Ọ̀yọ́, but subsequently, it became a descriptive term for the peoples who inhabited the Southwestern part of Nigeria and spoke a common language.

The formal use of the word was by Bishop Ajayi Crowther’s effort in creating a Yoruba dictionary. Among some Yoruba scholars and opinion leaders, the word has a derogatory undertone as it was considered as one of the denigrating labels used by the Hausa-Fulani to describe the Yoruba peoples they encountered in their trade expeditions. It was said that these traders abhorred the Yoruba for their shrewdness and what they perceived as trickery in their business negotiations.

Yariba, according to the dictionary compiled by Bishop Ajayi Crowther, means a bastard and deceitful person! The British colonialists also entrenched the term when they needed a name to collectively describe the peoples of the Southwest of Nigeria who have a common language and heritage. As it is usual with the colonial government of Britain, they tend to seek the advice of their local proxies, the Fulani, in determining major issues concerning other nationalities in the geographical expression they coined out for their imperialistic exploits. Unfortunately, the term Yoruba appears to be so entrenched that the real meaning of it is completely lost on its people.

The question now is what were these peoples now referred to as Yoruba called? The words Ọmọlúàbí (Ọmọ-tí-olú-ìwà-bí – borne out of good character or integrity), Ọmọ–Káàárọ̀-o-jí-ire and Ọmọ Oòduà  – the children of Odùduwà. In some circles, especially within the fraternities, they are also referred to as Ọmọ Olúfẹ̀ – children or descendants of (Ilé-)Ifẹ̀.  Nowhere in the corpus of Ifá, the repository of universal knowledge otherwise known as the African Information Retrieval System, has the word Yoruba been deployed.

It is noteworthy that the Igbo nation from Eastern Nigeria rejected the derogatory term, Yanminrin, reserved for them. How come those in the Southwest find it convenient to adopt an appellation which denigrates them? Is it part of this tendency to always surrender the rights innate in us that has brought us under the domination of other nationalities within the contraption called Nigeria?

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