Òwe on the Head, the Face and Orí
Forty-two Yorùbá proverbs on the head as body part and as destiny, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Orí is the head, and in Yorùbá it is two things at once that English separates: the physical head that carries loads and grows hair and can be shaved, and the inner head, the orí inú, which is the portion of destiny a person chose before birth and which governs how a life turns out. The proverbs in this file do not keep those two senses apart, and that is the point. A saying about a head refusing to carry a load is also a saying about a person refusing their allotted work, and a Yorùbá hearer takes both readings at once without having to choose.
This file collects forty-two proverbs in which the head or the face is the subject or the governing image. They fall into groups: the head as the part that bears weight and therefore bears responsibility, the head as the seat of a person's own fortune and the only reliable ally a person has, the head as what is exposed to risk, and the face as the surface on which standing and shame are registered.
The proverbs are given in Owomoyela's texts and translations . Owomoyela's parenthetical usage notes are the basis of the Used when lines; where the wording of a note is his, it is quoted. Anything marked as the compiler's is this corpus's own and carries lower confidence.
A note on sources and diacritics
Owomoyela prints full standard orthography with tone marks and subdots, and his texts are reproduced here as printed . His own caution applies throughout: he declines to attach a named informant to any proverb, on the grounds that proverbs are communal property and that identifying the person he first heard one from would falsely privilege that person as its source . So the proverbs are attested, but not dated or localised.
Two proverbs that belong to this theme are already treated elsewhere in the corpus and are not repeated here: Mú orí lọ, má mú ẹwà lọ at entry 50 of owe-iwa-character, and Ẹni tó lórí rere tí kò níwà at entry 13 of the same file. Readers working on orí should read those two alongside this file.
The head that carries the load
1. Orí kì í tóbi kó lórí má lè gbé e.
Literal: Orí a-head kì í tóbi is-never so-big kó lórí that its-owner má lè gbé e cannot carry it.
Idiomatic: "A head is never so heavy that the owner cannot carry it."
Meaning: Whatever a person has been given, they have been given the capacity to bear.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should always be capable of taking care of one's affairs" Said to someone protesting that their situation is beyond them.
Notes: The pun is structural rather than phonetic: orí is the head, and olórí is the owner-of-the-head, so the sentence turns on the fact that the head and its owner are grammatically two parties to one body. Because orí is also destiny, the proverb reads simultaneously as "no destiny is too heavy for the person allotted it," which is the harder and more consoling claim.
2. Orí olórí kì í bá ni gbẹ́rù.
Literal: Orí olórí another-person's head kì í bá ni gbẹ́rù does-not help one carry-a-load.
Idiomatic: "Other people's heads will not carry one's load."
Meaning: Responsibility is not transferable.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Each person must bear his own burden"
Notes: The literal referent is head-portage, the ordinary Yorùbá means of carrying, in which the load rests on the carrier's own skull and nobody else's. Set beside entry 1 the pair is a complete argument: your head can carry what it was given, and no other head will do it for you. Compare yoruba-owe-proverbs entry 15, where a load cannot be lifted onto the head without a second person's help, which is not a contradiction: lifting is collaborative, carrying is not.
3. Orí tó kọ ẹrù, owó ni ń náni.
Literal: Orí tó kọ ẹrù a-head that refuses a-load, owó ni ń náni money is-what it-costs-one.
Idiomatic: "A head that refuses [to carry] loads will cost its owner some money."
Meaning: Work declined has to be paid for.
Used when: Owomoyela: "It costs money to have others do what one refuses to do for oneself"
Notes: Kọ is to reject or refuse, and attributing the refusal to the head rather than to the person is the proverb's whole method: the head is treated as an agent that can decline, which keeps the reproach impersonal. This is the economic proverb of the set, and it assumes a market in porterage that genuinely existed.
4. A kì í dá ẹrù ikùn pa orí.
Literal: A kì í dá one does-not load ẹrù ikùn the-belly's burden pa orí onto the-head.
Idiomatic: "One does not weigh the head down with a load that belongs to the belly."
Meaning: Each part has its own proper burden and they should not be exchanged.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Responsibilities should rest where they belong" Said when a duty is being pushed onto the wrong person.
Notes: The belly's burden is food, which the belly carries internally; the head's burden is cargo, carried externally. The proverb depends on the body being a division of labour, which is the same reasoning entry 5 applies to head and shoulder.
5. Kín ni orí ń ṣe tí èjìká ò lè ṣe? Èjìká ru ẹrù ó gba ọ̀ọ́dúnrún; orí ta tiẹ̀ ní ogúnlúgba.
Literal: Kín ni orí ń ṣe what does the-head do tí èjìká ò lè ṣe that the-shoulder cannot do? Èjìká ru ẹrù the-shoulder carried a-load ó gba ọ̀ọ́dúnrún it received three-hundred; orí ta tiẹ̀ the-head sold its-own ní ogúnlúgba for two-hundred-and-twenty.
Idiomatic: "What can the head do that the shoulder cannot do? The shoulder carried a load and earned 300 cowries; the head sold its own for 220 cowries."
Meaning: The senior member has no monopoly on the work, and on the day's evidence did it worse.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should not be foolish enough to think that the person who has more power and standing than oneself cannot accomplish what one has accomplished"
Notes: Owomoyela's gloss runs the comparison one way; the arithmetic in the proverb runs it the other, since the shoulder out-earns the head by eighty cowries. The proverb is best read as levelling in both directions, and the cowrie figures date it to the cowrie currency period. Ogúnlúgba is a compound numeral of the sort Yorùbá builds by subtraction and multiplication, and the precision is part of the joke.
6. Bí ọwọ́ ò bá ṣeé ṣán, à ká a lérí.
Literal: Bí ọwọ́ ò bá ṣeé ṣán if the-arms cannot be-swung, à ká a lérí we fold them on-the-head.
Idiomatic: "If the arms cannot be swung, one carries them on one's head."
Meaning: When the preferred method fails, adopt the one available.
Used when: Owomoyela: "If one cannot do as one would, one does what one can"
Notes: Swinging the arms is the free walk of someone carrying nothing; folding them on the head is the posture of someone either carrying a load or in distress. Yorùbá gesture-vocabulary matters here, and the same clamping gesture appears in entry 24 as an image of misfortune.
The head as one's own ally
7. Kò sí ẹni tó dùn mọ́ àfi orí ẹni.
Literal: Kò sí ẹni there-is-no one tó dùn who is-gladdened mọ́ àfi orí ẹni except one's-own head.
Idiomatic: "There is no one pleased [by one's success] except one's own head."
Meaning: Nobody genuinely wants you to do well except your own destiny.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Few people genuinely wish that one should succeed" Said in disappointment after apparent well-wishers prove hollow.
Notes: Owomoyela's bracketed "[by one's success]" is his supplement; the Yorùbá says only "there is no one gladdened except one's own orí," and the hearer supplies the occasion. This is the sharpest statement in the set of the doctrine that orí is a person's only reliable patron, a position argued at length in Ifá and reflected in the practice of ìbọrí, sacrificing to one's own head.
8. A kì í fá orí lẹ́hìn olórí.
Literal: A kì í fá orí one does-not shave a-head lẹ́hìn olórí behind the-head's-owner.
Idiomatic: "One does not shave a head in the absence of the owner."
Meaning: A person's business is not settled while they are absent.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One does not settle a matter in the absence of the person most concerned" Standard objection raised in a family meeting or a dispute hearing.
Notes: This proverb has real procedural force in Yorùbá dispute settlement, where it functions as something close to a rule of natural justice rather than as general advice. Head-shaving is the concrete image because it is done to a person, on their body, and visibly changes how they appear to others, which is exactly the position of someone whose case is decided behind their back.
9. A kì í du orí olórí kí àwòdì gbé tẹni lọ.
Literal: A kì í du orí olórí one does-not fight-for another's head kí àwòdì gbé tẹni lọ while a-kite carries one's-own away.
Idiomatic: "One does not fight to save another person's head only to have a kite carry one's own away."
Meaning: Rescue that costs you your own safety is not virtue but miscalculation.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should not save others at the cost of one's own safety"
Notes: The kite is a bird of prey that snatches, and the image is of a head literally lifted off while its owner is busy defending someone else's. Owomoyela prints this proverb twice, at 576 and again at 1277, with identical text and translation . Duplicate printing of this kind is common in the collection where a proverb fits two thematic sections.
10. Ibi tí a bá pè ní orí, a kì í fi tẹ ilẹ̀.
Literal: Ibi tí a bá pè ní orí the-place we call the-head, a kì í fi tẹ ilẹ̀ we do-not use-it to-press the-ground.
Idiomatic: "Whatever one names as the head, one does not tread the floor with it."
Meaning: What you have designated as highest is not to be put to the lowest use.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Never misuse or abuse your prized possessions or attributes"
Notes: The construction ibi tí a bá pè ní orí, the place we call the head, is deliberately non-committal about which part is meant, which lets the proverb apply to any thing or person that has been given precedence. Yorùbá spatial ranking is vertical and absolute, so head and ground are the two poles, and putting one where the other belongs is the clearest available image of misuse.
11. Ibi tí a pè ní orí ni ń hu irun.
Literal: Ibi tí a pè ní orí the-place we call the-head ni ń hu irun is-what grows hair.
Idiomatic: "The part one names the head is the one that grows hair."
Meaning: The thing given the rank shows the marks of the rank.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should act in accordance to one's station"
Notes: A companion to entry 10 built on the same opening formula, and the pair works as an argument: the head is not to be degraded, and the head is recognisable by what grows on it. Hù, to sprout, is the same verb used of growing character in owe-iwa-character, which quietly links station to conduct.
12. Orí ńlá kì í pá tán.
Literal: Orí ńlá a-big head kì í pá tán does-not go-bald completely.
Idiomatic: "A huge head does not go completely bald."
Meaning: Something substantial is never wholly stripped.
Used when: The compiler's reading, since Owomoyela's usage note is not printed with this entry in the source consulted: said in reassurance of a large household or a person of standing suffering losses, that not everything will go. Confidence on the usage: medium.
Notes: Owomoyela prints entry 2311 without a parenthetical gloss, which is unusual in the collection and is reproduced here rather than filled in. The proverb sits immediately after entry 2310, the head that is never too heavy, and the two share a subject.
The head exposed
13. Ẹ̀rù kì í ba orí kó sá wọ inú.
Literal: Ẹ̀rù kì í ba orí fear does-not seize the-head kó sá wọ inú that-it flee into the-inside.
Idiomatic: "The head is never so frightened that it disappears into the shoulder."
Meaning: There is no hiding from what is coming to you.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should be brave enough to meet one's fate"
Notes: The anatomical claim is the argument: a tortoise can withdraw its head and a person cannot, so the human head is permanently exposed. Because orí is destiny, the proverb also says destiny cannot be evaded, and the two readings reinforce rather than compete.
14. Ẹni tí a bá fi orí rẹ̀ fọ́ àgbọn ò níí jẹ níbẹ̀.
Literal: Ẹni tí a bá fi orí rẹ̀ the-one whose head we use fọ́ àgbọn to-break a-coconut ò níí jẹ níbẹ̀ will-not eat of-it.
Idiomatic: "The person on whose head a coconut is broken will not share in eating it."
Meaning: Whoever absorbs the damage of an enterprise is not the one who enjoys its yield.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever takes foolhardy risks in pursuit of an end seldom lives to enjoy it"
Notes: Owomoyela's gloss makes the victim complicit by calling the risk foolhardy, but the Yorùbá is passive throughout: the head is used, by unnamed others. Read that way it is a proverb about exploitation rather than about recklessness, and both uses are current. Confidence on the gloss: medium.
15. Ẹyin adìẹ ò gbọdọ̀ fi orí ṣọ àpáta.
Literal: Ẹyin adìẹ a-hen's egg ò gbọdọ̀ must-not fi orí ṣọ àpáta strike its-head against a-rock.
Idiomatic: "A chicken egg should not strike its head against a rock."
Meaning: Do not take on a force that will destroy you.
Used when: Owomoyela: "It is unwise to take on forces one cannot withstand"
Notes: Giving an egg a head is the proverb's small violence against sense, and it works because the egg is all shell and the shell is all head. The mismatch is total, which is why the proverb is used for confrontations that are not close.
16. Orí ejò ò ṣé-é họ imú.
Literal: Orí ejò a-snake's head ò ṣé-é họ imú cannot be-used to-scratch the-nose.
Idiomatic: "The head of a snake is nothing to scratch one's nose with."
Meaning: Some things are not to be handled casually, whatever their convenient shape.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Never expose yourself to unnecessary danger"
Notes: Ṣé-é, the "can be done" formation, is the same construction used in owe-iwa-character entries 8 and 9 for what cannot be covered or grabbed. The absurd domestic use proposed for a snake's head is the humour, and the proximity of the fangs to the nose is the argument. Compare yoruba-owe-proverbs entry 35, on finding the snake's head before striking, which treats the same body part as the target rather than the tool.
17. Bí ògbó ẹni ò bá dá ni lójú, a kì í fi gbárí wò.
Literal: Bí ògbó ẹni if one's cudgel ò bá dá ni lójú does-not make-one certain, a kì í fi gbárí wò one does-not use-it to-strike-the-skull to-test.
Idiomatic: "If one does not trust one's cudgel, one does not try it on one's own head."
Meaning: Do not stake yourself on something you have not verified.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should not swear by something about which one is not certain" Owomoyela cross-references 2020 .
Notes: Gbárí is a compound of gbá, to strike, and orí, head, so the verb itself names the skull. The proverb is about oath-taking: swearing by a charm or a cult object is a wager on its potency, and the test proposed is the one that cannot be survived if the answer is no. Entry 18 is its positive counterpart.
18. Bí Ògún ẹni bá dá ni lójú, à fi gbárí.
Literal: Bí Ògún ẹni if one's Ògún bá dá ni lójú makes-one certain, à fi gbárí we use-it to-strike-the-skull.
Idiomatic: "If one is sure of one's Ògún cult object, one taps one's head with it."
Meaning: Confidence in what backs you is demonstrated by staking your body on it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "If one is sure of one's position, one confidently swears by anything" Owomoyela cross-references 1436 .
Notes: Ògún is the òrìṣà of iron and of oath, and swearing on iron is the standard Yorùbá oath, which makes this proverb a description of actual legal procedure rather than a metaphor. Read with entry 17 it forms a matched pair, one negative and one positive, and Owomoyela cross-references each to the other.
19. Ọ̀ràn kì í yẹ̀ lórí alábaun.
Literal: Ọ̀ràn trouble kì í yẹ̀ does-not miss lórí alábaun the-head of-the-tortoise.
Idiomatic: "The responsibility for trouble never fails to fall on the head of the tortoise."
Meaning: There is a person to whom every problem is eventually traced, and it is always the same person.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Said of people who are invariably the source of problems"
Notes: Ìjàpá the tortoise is the trickster of Yorùbá folktale, so the proverb is not observing a coincidence, it is naming a character. English "falls on his head" happens to match the Yorùbá lórí exactly, which is rare enough to be worth noting: both languages locate blame on the head.
20. Bí ọmọdé bá dá orí sọ apá, apá á pa á; bó bá dá orí sọ ìrókò, ìrókò a kò ó lọ́nà.
Literal: Bí ọmọdé bá dá orí sọ apá if a-child strikes its-head against the-apá-tree, apá á pa á the-apá will-kill it; bó bá dá orí sọ ìrókò if it-strikes its-head against the-ìrókò, ìrókò a kò ó lọ́nà the-ìrókò will-meet it on-the-road.
Idiomatic: "If a child strikes his head against the mahogany-bean tree, the tree will kill him; if he strikes his head against the ìrókò tree, the tree will accost him on his way."
Meaning: Provoking a power produces retaliation, immediate from one, deferred from another.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever incites a terrible force to fight will rue his folly"
Notes: Both trees are treated in Yorùbá practice as inhabited, and the proverb distinguishes their tempers: the apá kills at once, the ìrókò waits and meets you later on the road. That distinction between immediate and deferred retribution is the substance of the proverb and is flattened by any translation that treats the two clauses as parallel emphasis. Compare entry 58 of owe-iwa-character, where the ìrókò's reckoning is likewise said not to arrive on the day of the offence.
21. Ẹni tí ó fi orí sọ lẹ̀ ẹ́ gbìyànjú ikú.
Literal: Ẹni tí ó fi orí sọ lẹ̀ the-one who throws head to-ground ẹ́ gbìyànjú ikú has-attempted death.
Idiomatic: "Whoever dives headfirst to the ground has made a creditable attempt at suicide."
Meaning: An effort is to be judged by what it risked, not only by what it achieved.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should acknowledge people's sincere efforts"
Notes: Gbìyànjú is to make an attempt or to try hard, and the proverb turns on applying that ordinary word of commendation to a suicide attempt, which produces a grim compliment. The usage is genuinely approving: someone who went head-first has not held anything back.
The head and what grows on it
22. Àlejò orí ni kókó.
Literal: Àlejò orí the-head's guest ni kókó is the-lump.
Idiomatic: "The lump is only the head's visitor."
Meaning: An affliction is a temporary lodger, not a permanent resident.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should learn to live with afflictions" Said in consolation of illness.
Notes: Àlejò is guest or stranger, and Yorùbá hospitality obligations attach to the word, so calling a swelling a guest concedes that it must be tolerated while implying it will leave. The consolation and the resignation are inseparable in the Yorùbá and Owomoyela's "only" tips it toward the consoling side.
23. Kókó ló kọ́kọ́ dé orí, tàbí orí ló kọ́kọ́ dé kókó?
Literal: Kókó ló kọ́kọ́ dé orí the-lump did-it first arrive at-the-head, tàbí orí ló kọ́kọ́ dé kókó or the-head first arrived at-the-lump?
Idiomatic: "Was it the lump that first got to the head, or the head that first got to the lump?"
Meaning: The order of arrival settles which party has precedence, and it is not in doubt.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A chastisement for someone attempting to reverse the order of precedence" Said to a newcomer behaving as though they were established.
Notes: The question is rhetorical and the answer is obvious, which is the rhetorical form Yorùbá uses for claims that ought not to need arguing. Kọ́kọ́, first, is repeated in both clauses so the sentence is a mirror, and seniority by arrival is a real organising principle in Yorùbá households and towns rather than a mere figure.
24. Ojú ti kókó, ojú ti eéwo; ojú ti aáràgbá ìdí pẹ̀lú.
Literal: Ojú ti kókó shame-on the-lump, ojú ti eéwo shame-on the-boil; ojú ti aáràgbá ìdí pẹ̀lú shame-on the-hardened-tissue of-the-buttocks also.
Idiomatic: "The lump that attacks the head is shamed, the boil is shamed, and the hardened tissue on the buttocks is shamed also."
Meaning: The afflictions tried and failed, and the speaker is still standing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "An assertion of defiance in the face of adversity"
Notes: Ojú ti, literally "the eye pushes," is the idiom for being shamed, the same construction discussed at entry 40 of owe-iwa-character. Turning it against a swelling is a joke, since a boil cannot be embarrassed, and the joke is the defiance. The list of three afflictions descending from head to buttocks gives the proverb a rhythm that carries the bravado.
25. Ojú ni akàn-án fi ń ṣọ́ orí.
Literal: Ojú eyes ni akàn-án fi ń ṣọ́ orí are-what the-crab uses to-guard its-head.
Idiomatic: "The crab watches after its head with its eyes."
Meaning: The faculty you have is the one you use to protect what matters.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should have one's eyes open to protect one's interests"
Notes: The crab's eyes sit on stalks above its shell, so the anatomy is exact: its eyes are literally positioned to watch its own head. Yorùbá proverbs about vigilance frequently choose an animal whose body makes the argument, and this is one of the cleaner instances.
26. Igún ṣe oore ó pá lórí, àkàlà-á ṣe oore ó yọ gẹ̀gẹ̀; nítorí ọjọ́ mìíràn kẹni ó má ṣe oore bẹ́ẹ̀ mọ́.
Literal: Igún ṣe oore the-vulture did a-favour ó pá lórí it went-bald on-the-head, àkàlà-á ṣe oore the-hornbill did a-favour ó yọ gẹ̀gẹ̀ it developed a-goitre; nítorí ọjọ́ mìíràn because-of another day kẹni ó má ṣe oore bẹ́ẹ̀ mọ́ let-one not do such a-favour again.
Idiomatic: "The vulture did others a favor and became bald in return; the hornbill did others a favor and developed a goiter in return." Owomoyela's own gloss continues: "In the future, one should not do those kinds of favors"
Meaning: Service rendered was repaid with permanent disfigurement, and the lesson drawn is to stop.
Used when: Said after a kindness has been badly repaid. Owomoyela glosses the closing clause as the moral .
Notes: The vulture's bald head and the hornbill's throat pouch are the visible evidence the proverb reasons from, and both birds carry sacrificial associations in Yorùbá practice, the vulture especially as the bird that conveys offerings. The proverb is unusually bitter and Owomoyela records it without softening, in the same way he records the sour proverb at entry 15 of owe-iwa-character.
27. A kì í pa igún, a kì í jẹ igún, a kì í fi igún bọrí.
Literal: A kì í pa igún one does-not kill the-vulture, a kì í jẹ igún one does-not eat the-vulture, a kì í fi igún bọrí one does-not use the-vulture to-sacrifice-to-the-head.
Idiomatic: "One does not kill the vulture; one does not eat the vulture; one does not offer the vulture as a sacrifice to one's head."
Meaning: Some things are excluded absolutely, at every level of use.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Certain behaviors are beyond the pale"
Notes: Bọrí, from bọ (to sacrifice to) plus orí, is the technical term for the rite of feeding one's own head, and its appearance here is the reason this proverb belongs in a file on orí. The three clauses escalate from killing to eating to ritual use, and the vulture is barred from all three because it is the carrier of sacrifice and cannot itself be sacrificed.
28. Orí tí yó jẹ igún kì í gbọ́; bí wọ́n fún un ládìẹ kò níí gbà.
Literal: Orí tí yó jẹ igún the-head that will eat vulture kì í gbọ́ does-not listen; bí wọ́n fún un ládìẹ if they give it a-chicken kò níí gbà it will-not accept.
Idiomatic: "The head that is destined to eat a vulture cannot be saved; if a chicken is offered to it, it will refuse."
Meaning: A destiny set on a bad outcome refuses the substitution that would avert it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The person destined to suffer will manage to succumb to the suffering despite efforts by others to save him or her"
Notes: This is the strongest fatalist proverb in the file and it should be read against entry 13 of owe-iwa-character, where character overrides destiny. The two positions are both current and the corpus does not reconcile them. The ritual logic is exact: a chicken is the ordinary offering to the head, so refusing the chicken in favour of the forbidden vulture is a destiny insisting on its own ruin. Read alongside entry 27, which forbids exactly this offering.
The head that rises
29. Orí a-dé-tù ń pète àrán; orí a-dá-ràn-án ń pète àti jọba.
Literal: Orí a-dé-tù the-head that-wears-a-cloth-cap ń pète àrán plots velvet; orí a-dá-ràn-án the-head that-wears-velvet ń pète àti jọba plots to-become-king.
Idiomatic: "The head that wears a cloth cap strives to wear a velvet cap; the one that wears a velvet cap strives to become a king."
Meaning: Every station is occupied by someone reaching for the next one.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Everyone hopes for a better tomorrow"
Notes: Owomoyela's gloss reads the proverb as hopeful; the verb pète, to scheme or plot, is cooler than that and admits a reading closer to restless ambition. Headgear is the Yorùbá index of rank, so the sequence cloth cap to velvet cap to crown is a real ladder and not a figure of speech. Confidence on the tone of the gloss: medium.
30. Ràá ire, gàá ire; ìpéǹpéjú ni àlà a fìlà.
Literal: Ràá ire press-it well, gàá ire puff-it well; ìpéǹpéjú the-eyelash ni àlà a fìlà is the-boundary of-a-cap.
Idiomatic: "Press it well on the head, puff it out; the eyebrow is the limit for the cap."
Meaning: Wear it how you like, but there is a line past which it stops being a cap.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One may be free to use one's possession as one pleases, but there are still some conventions to observe"
Notes: The first two verbs are the ordinary instructions for setting a Yorùbá cap at an angle, so the proverb opens by granting full licence and then names the one hard limit. Owomoyela's translation says "eyebrow" where the Yorùbá ìpéǹpéjú is the eyelash or eyelid, a small discrepancy that does not affect the sense. This is the file's clearest statement that freedom operates inside a boundary.
31. Orí àgbà-á níyì, ó sàn ju orí àgbà-á fọ́ lọ.
Literal: Orí àgbà-á níyì the-elder's-head-has-honour, ó sàn ju it is-better than orí àgbà-á fọ́ lọ the-elder's-head-is-broken.
Idiomatic: "The-elderly-person's-head-deserves-respect is better than The-elderly-person's-head-is-damaged."
Meaning: Being held in honour beats being held in contempt, and for an elder the difference is everything.
Used when: Owomoyela: "An elder who enjoys respect is better off than one who is insulted by others" Owomoyela cross-references 519 .
Notes: Owomoyela's hyphenation renders the two clauses as if they were names, which is right: the Yorùbá sets two whole descriptions side by side and compares them as objects. Yì is honour or worth, and fọ́ is to break or crack, used of a calabash or a skull. Compare entry 32, which makes the same comparison with death in place of dishonour.
32. Ọjọ́ àgbà-á kú sàn ju ọjọ́ àgbà-á tẹ́.
Literal: Ọjọ́ àgbà-á kú the-day an-elder dies sàn ju is-better than ọjọ́ àgbà-á tẹ́ the-day an-elder is-disgraced.
Idiomatic: "The day an elder dies is far better than the day an elder is disgraced."
Meaning: For a person of standing, disgrace is worse than death.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Death is preferable to disgrace" Owomoyela cross-references 507 .
Notes: Tẹ́ is to be disgraced or humiliated, and it is the verb that governs the Yorùbá vocabulary of lost face throughout this file. The proverb states plainly what entries 33 to 36 approach through images.
The face and what shows on it
33. Àgbà tí kò nítìjú, ojú kan ni ìbá ní; ojú kan náà a wà lọ́gangan iwájú-u rẹ̀.
Literal: Àgbà tí kò nítìjú an-elder who has-no shame, ojú kan ni ìbá ní one eye is-what-he-would-have; ojú kan náà that-same one eye a wà lọ́gangan iwájú-u rẹ̀ would-be right in-the-middle of-his-forehead.
Idiomatic: "An elder without self-respect might as well have only one eye, that one eye being in the center of his forehead."
Meaning: Shamelessness in an elder is a deformity as visible as a single central eye.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Shamelessness does not become an elder"
Notes: Ìtìjú, shame, is the positive faculty of knowing what not to do, treated at entry 40 of owe-iwa-character. The proverb's force is that it does not say the shameless elder is bad, it says he is monstrous to look at, and it relocates the fault onto the face where everyone can see it. Iwájú, forehead, is literally "front of the eyes."
34. Àgbà tí yó tẹ̀ẹ́, bó fárí tán, a ní ó ku járá ẹnu.
Literal: Àgbà tí yó tẹ̀ẹ́ an-elder who will be-disgraced, bó fárí tán when he has-finished shaving-the-head, a ní ó ku járá ẹnu he says there-remains the-bonus of-the-mouth.
Idiomatic: "An elder courting disgrace, after his head has been shaved, says, 'Now, how about shaving the beard [as a gratuity]?'"
Meaning: Pressing for a little extra past the agreed transaction is how a person of standing loses it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should know how far one may go before one suffers disgrace"
Notes: Járá is the small free extra a seller adds to a purchase, an ordinary and expected feature of Yorùbá market dealing, which is what makes the request plausible enough to be tempting and petty enough to be shaming. The proverb is precise about the mechanism of disgrace: not a great crime, but one request too many.
35. Bí kò sí tọ̀bùn èèyàn, ta ni ìbá jí lówùúrọ̀ tí kò bọ́jú ṣáṣá?
Literal: Bí kò sí tọ̀bùn èèyàn but-for the-filthy person, ta ni ìbá jí lówùúrọ̀ who would wake in-the-morning tí kò bọ́jú ṣáṣá and not wash-the-face clean?
Idiomatic: "But for a person of filthy habits, who would wake in the morning and not wash his or her face clean?"
Meaning: The exception exists, and it identifies itself.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Antisocial people betray themselves by their habits"
Notes: Bọ́jú, to wash the face, contracts bọ and ojú and is the ordinary word for the first act of the morning. The proverb works by treating an unwashed face as diagnostic rather than as a lapse: the habit is the person. Ṣáṣá is an ideophone for cleanness with a brisk, scrubbing sense that English cannot carry.
36. Ojú kì í pọ́n baálé ilé kó fọwọ́ gbálẹ̀ ilé ẹ̀.
Literal: Ojú kì í pọ́n baálé ilé hardship does-not press the-head-of-the-house kó fọwọ́ gbálẹ̀ ilé ẹ̀ that-he sweeps his compound with-the-hand.
Idiomatic: "A head of a household is never so hard up that he sweeps his compound with his bare hands."
Meaning: There is a floor below which a person of standing does not go, whatever the circumstances.
Used when: Owomoyela: "However desperate one might be, there are certain things one must not stoop to do"
Notes: Ojú pọ́n, literally "the eyes are red," is the standard Yorùbá idiom for hardship, so the proverb opens on the face even though its subject is destitution. Baálé is the male head of a compound, and the dignity at issue is specifically that of office. Compare entry 1 for the other sense in which a head is never overloaded.
37. À-rí-fíni-lé ò jẹ́ ká jẹ òròmọ adìẹ.
Literal: À-rí-fíni-lé the-being-seen-and-mocked-at-home ò jẹ́ ká jẹ òròmọ adìẹ does-not let us eat a-day-old-chick.
Idiomatic: "Fear of losing face within one's home dissuades one from eating day-old chicks."
Meaning: The restraint that governs conduct is the prospect of being seen by one's own people.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person who would retain esteem among his or her peers must not act beneath himself or herself"
Notes: The compressed nominal à-rí-fíni-lé is formed by the same à- ... -í- clause-to-noun pattern discussed at entry 33 of owe-iwa-character, and it names a single social sensation for which English needs a phrase. Eating a chick rather than waiting for the fowl is greed visible to the household, and the household is the audience that matters, exactly as at entry 19 of owe-iwa-character.
38. Má tẹ̀ẹ́ lọ́wọ́ onílé, má tẹ̀ẹ́ lọ́wọ́ àlejò; lọ́wọ́ ara ẹni la ti ń tẹ́.
Literal: Má tẹ̀ẹ́ lọ́wọ́ onílé do-not be-disgraced before the-householder, má tẹ̀ẹ́ lọ́wọ́ àlejò do-not be-disgraced before the-stranger; lọ́wọ́ ara ẹni la ti ń tẹ́ it-is-before one's-own-self that-one is-disgraced.
Idiomatic: "Save face with members of your household, and save face with complete strangers, such a person loses face with himself or herself."
Meaning: Managing your face before every audience costs you your standing with yourself.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person too careful about his or her reputation will end up losing regard for himself or herself. Some situations call for doing away with decorum"
Notes: This is the file's counterweight to entries 31 to 37, all of which treat face as worth protecting. Here the protection is itself the failure, and the third clause turns the verb tẹ́ back on the person doing the managing. Owomoyela's English is compressed to the point of strain and the Yorùbá is cleaner: the first two clauses are imperatives, the third is the verdict.
39. Bí ọmọdé bá ṣubú a wo iwájú; bí àgbà bá ṣubú a wo ẹ̀hìn.
Literal: Bí ọmọdé bá ṣubú if a-child falls a wo iwájú he looks forward; bí àgbà bá ṣubú if an-elder falls a wo ẹ̀hìn he looks behind.
Idiomatic: "When a youth falls, he looks ahead; when an elder falls, he looks behind."
Meaning: The young check whether anyone ahead noticed; the old check what they tripped over.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The youth is mindful of what his superiors think of him; the elder is mindful of what the young think of him" Owomoyela cross-references 3365 .
Notes: This proverb also appears at entry 24 of yoruba-owe-proverbs, where the compiler's gloss reads the elder's backward look as inspecting the obstacle and calls it a statement about experience as retrospection. Owomoyela's note reads both looks as checks on an audience instead, which is a materially different interpretation of the same text, and both are printed here rather than reconciled. Iwájú and ẹ̀hìn, front and back, are the same pair that structure entries 33 and 40. Confidence on the meaning: contested.
40. Ẹ̀ṣọ́ kì í gba ọfà lẹ́hìn; iwájú gangan ní ń fi í gba ọgbẹ́.
Literal: Ẹ̀ṣọ́ the-palace-guard kì í gba ọfà lẹ́hìn does-not receive an-arrow in-the-back; iwájú gangan the-very front ní ń fi í gba ọgbẹ́ is-where he takes the-wound.
Idiomatic: "A palace guard does not receive arrows in his back; he suffers wounds only in front."
Meaning: A person in that office is wounded facing the enemy or not at all, because the alternative is desertion.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One must act in a manner that befits one's station"
Notes: The location of a wound is legal evidence here rather than description: a back wound proves flight, and for a guard that is the end of standing. Ẹ̀ṣọ́ in this proverb is the palace guard, and it is a different word from the ẹ̀ṣọ́ meaning adornment discussed at entry 2 of owe-iwa-character, though both are printed with the same tones in Owomoyela. This proverb belongs equally to the war files and is placed here for the face-and-front image.
41. Ẹni tí ó mú u lórí ni ó kú, ìwọ tí o mú u lẹ́sẹ̀-ẹ́ ní ó ń jòwèrè.
Literal: Ẹni tí ó mú u lórí the-one who holds it by-the-head ni ó kú says it is-dead, ìwọ tí o mú u lẹ́sẹ̀-ẹ́ you who hold it by-the-feet ní ó ń jòwèrè say it is-in-death-throes.
Idiomatic: "The person holding it by the head says it is dead; you who are holding it by the feet say it is going through death throes."
Meaning: The person at the head has the information; the person at the feet has an opinion.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Novices should not presume to be more knowledgeable than the experts"
Notes: The scene is two people carrying a killed animal, and the argument is entirely about position: death shows in the head first and the legs twitch last, so the two observers are both telling the truth about what they can see and only one of them is answering the question. This is a proverb about epistemic standing of the same kind as entry 20 of owe-iwa-character, where the servant is the one who knows.
42. Ọlọ́gbọ́n d'orí ẹja mú; òmùgọ̀ d'ìrù-u rẹ̀ mú.
Literal: Ọlọ́gbọ́n the-wise-one d'orí ẹja mú seizes the-fish by-the-head; òmùgọ̀ the-fool d'ìrù-u rẹ̀ mú seizes it by-its-tail.
Idiomatic: "The wise person grabs a fish by the head; the fool grabs it by the tail fin."
Meaning: Competence is knowing which end of a thing to take hold of.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The wise person knows better than a fool the best way to handle a situation"
Notes: A fish held by the tail slips forward out of the hand because its scales run that way, so the proverb is a piece of practical knowledge before it is a metaphor. It pairs naturally with yoruba-owe-proverbs entry 35, on finding the snake's head before striking: in both, the head is the place where a thing is controlled.
Reading this set
Three things are visible across these forty-two proverbs that no single one of them states.
The head is a party to the person, not simply a part of them. It carries, refuses, plots, is gladdened, is guarded, eats, and can be sacrificed to. Entries 1, 3, 7, 27 and 29 all give it verbs of will. This is not loose personification: it follows from orí being the inner head, the portion of destiny that a person negotiates with rather than commands, and it is why the same word does duty for skull and for fate without any sense of pun.
The corpus does not settle whether destiny can be altered. Entry 28 says a head bent on eating a vulture will refuse the chicken that would save it, and entry 1 says no head is too heavy for its owner to carry. Read together with entry 13 of owe-iwa-character, where character ruins a good destiny, these give at least three incompatible positions on how much of a life is fixed. A proverb is selected for an occasion, and the occasions differ; assembling them into a doctrine of destiny produces a system no speaker asserted.
Face is the currency of standing, and the corpus is ambivalent about it. Entries 31 through 37 all treat losing face as the thing to be avoided, several of them ranking it above death. Entry 38 then says that a person who guards their face before every audience has lost the only regard that matters. That reversal is not a marginal saying: Owomoyela's own usage note endorses it, adding that some situations call for doing away with decorum. Any account of Yorùbá honour built only on the first group misrepresents the record.