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History 101: Nigerian writer explains how Yoruba originated from Hausa language

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A Nigerian linguist and writer, Kola Tubosun has explained how the people of Southwestern Nigeria derived the name Yoruba they are now known as.

Tubosun explained via his verified Twitter handle @Kolatubosun that the name Yoruba has its etymology in Hausa language because it was the Hausa people who first started calling the Oyo people “Yaro Oba” (Children of the Ọba) before it was adopted by the British colonial masters.

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He further explained in the Twitter thread that before the Hausa people coined the name, the Yoruba people called themselves “Ọmọ káàárọ̀ oòjíire” (People who ask ‘Good morning, did you wake up well?’) or Ọmọ Oòduà (Odùduwà’s children).

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Tubosun tweeted:

“People seem genuinely surprised that the word “Yorùbá” could have its etymology in Hausa. But why? “France” is not a French word. “German” is not a German word etc. The “Chinese” people never call themselves that. These are called ‘exonyms’: names given by outsiders.

“The Yorùbá themselves call themselves “Ọmọ káàárọ̀ oòjíire” (People who ask ‘Good morning, did you wake up well?’) or Ọmọ Oòduà (Odùduwà’s children). This is what you’ll usually find in Yorùbá translations and speeches and literature.

“The most convincing breakdown of the name I’ve found is “Yaro Ọba” (Children of the Ọba) which the Hausa/Fulani likely used to refer to the Ọ̀yọ́ people they first had contact with. There’s nothing wrong with a name coined by what outsiders likely called us.

“The British, hearing “Yaro Ọba” probably called it Yarooba or Yaribba (if the Hausa themselves didn’t already started using that term before the British came). And then it was adopted as a general term to refer to people occupying the whole space.

“The point is that it has now become a Yorùbá word (albeit with no particular meaning except to refer to the people). The earlier terms (Ọmọ Káàárọ̀ oòjíire, Ọmọ Oòduà) are still being used in literature and speeches and writings. So who’s complaining?

“Speaking of exonyms, I stumbled on the likely etymology of the word Òyìnbó/Oyibo a while ago that made the most sense to me from a phonological and morphological perspective. Read it here:

“Ah, I just remembered, the Yorùbá seem to think they named “Benin” from “Ilẹ̀ Ùbínú” (“land of anger”) documented in some ancient story. Language and human contact seems to throw up these interesting factoids; some true, some contrived, some totally lost to history.”
See his tweet:

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