Ẹni tó ní ẹẹ́wàá ò níwà; ẹni tí ó níwà ò ní ẹẹ́wàá.
Character against beauty, wealth and destiny
Original
Ẹni tó ní ẹẹ́wàá ò níwà; ẹni tí ó níwà ò ní ẹẹ́wàá.
Glosa literal
- Ẹni tó ní ẹẹ́wàá one-who has ten-cowries ò níwà has-not character; ẹni tí ó níwà one-who has character ò ní ẹẹ́wàá has-not ten-cowries.
Inglés idiomático
"The person who has good character does not have 10 cowries; the person who has 10 cowries does not have good character."
La fuente no nombra a ningún traductor.
Qué significa
Means and character rarely coincide.
Se usa cuando
Owomoyela: "Character and means seldom go together"
Notas sobre la traducción
A sour proverb, and worth keeping precisely because it cuts against the improving tone of most of this set. Owomoyela records it without softening it. The cowrie reference dates the proverb to the cowrie currency period, which ran until the early colonial era. The near-pun of ẹẹ́wàá (ten cowries) against ìwà is audible and is part of why the proverb is memorable.