Onomastics TRADITIONAL TITLES AS IGBO PROPER NAMES In a narrative by the reverend Prof. Chinua Achebe, he opined that because of the natural apprehension to creating an all powerful individual as evinced in the name "Ezebuilo", the process of acquiring traditional titles by the Igbos had been deliberately made expensive for
Onomastics Why We Do This. WHAT IS A NAME? George Redmonds defines names as “…special words that we use to identify a person, an animal, a place, or a thing, and they all have a meaning. In many cases that meaning will lie concealed in the name’s history;
ONWU: WHY "DEATH" IN IGBO NAMES? "Onwu" expressed as "Ọnwụ" in the Igbo orthography and pronounced /Aw-nwu/ means death in the Igbo language. Typically, Ọnwụ as a name could be a shortened form of any of the Onwu inspired names. Onwu names commonly appear as surnames suggesting an older origin
Onomastics UGO IN IGBO NAMES- A FEATHER IN ONE'S CAP As no one would carry live eagles about to make the point, Eagle feathers symbolically feature prominently in Igbo social and religious activities.
Christmas Travels A HISTORY OF THE IGBO PEOPLE AND THE TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS RETURN Before you read this, I recommend you click to read this register of Igbo vocabulary in the blacksmith vocation People of other cultures often ask why Igbos do the seemingly mandatory yearly return to their homeland. It is something that even younger Igbo generations
translate from Igbo to English IGBO VOCABULARY OF THE BLACKSMITH VOCATION I foraged a little and found a few things Akpụtaakpụ/Chikereguru/Chikelụagụlụ/Ọgadazụ/Anya Ụzụ= god of the smith Agụlụ= Smith Ụ́zụ́= Smith Nsó= Chisel Mkpà mvolo= Big vice Mkpà áká= Hand held vice/pair of tongs Mvolo= Screw Ísí-ka-àrụ́= Screwdriver Okwanka= Master
TRANSLATION OF ALOR IN IGBO NAMES When you search "Ofor", Google returns diverse images of items presented as Ọfọ. Images were often at variance with what multiple sources describes. But I found that many of the images bear similarity with the description of Alor made by Amanke Okafor and quoted
Igbo names MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF OFOR IN IGBO NAMES There is an Igbo saying re-echoed in a song by a popular Igbo highlife group: “Onye ukwu siri na ya ji Ọfọ, onye nta siri na ya ji Ọfọ. Mana Ọfọ maara onye ji ya”, meaning, “Both the high and the low claim to
ENYI: THE ELEPHANT AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN IGBO NAMES In a song 'Ka esi lee onye isi-oche' from the album 'Akụkọ n'egwu', Gentleman Mike Ejeagha, sings about the story of Mbe (Tortoise) and Ényí (Elephant) [not to be confused with Ényì- "friend"] which I would attempt to summarize:
Igbonames IGBO NAMES: HOW TO MAKE AN OFOR In the worship of the gods one ever-present tool was the Ofor /Awfaw/ and /Ọfọ/ in the Igbo orthography. Ọfọ was a movable altar for sacrifice, but it differed from all other altars by being universal, that is to say, it could be used