Three lineage oríkì from Karin Barber's Okuku fieldwork, plus the Olúfọ́n dynasty and the Ìkòyí warrior lineage whose praise obliges the chanter to include its own dishonour.
Karin Barber's fieldwork in Òkukù, Ọ̀sun State, is the single richest documented source of oríkì orílẹ̀ with full performance context this corpus draws on, and oriki-women-as-custodians and oriki-poetics-and-untranslatability already present several of her texts for other purposes. This file presents three further lineage oríkì specific to Òkukù compounds, the Ẹlẹ́mọ̀ṣọ́ lineage, the Òpó (Òpómúléró) lineage, and, from a separate town, the Olúfọ́n dynasty of Ifọn-Òrolú, and closes with the Oníkòyí warrior lineage's oríkì, which the source material for 13-oral-literature/13-the-performers.md and yoruba-rara cites for its unflinching self-description.
Igbá tó wu ìjòkun ló ń dudu idu ojé. Ó wáá wu Babalọla Ọmítọ́tan ó dudu tán ó fẹ́yín ṣẹ́kẹ́.
It was by choice that the ijokun plant became as black as lead. And by choice Babalola Omitotan became perfectly black with teeth as white as gristle.
Translated by Karin Barber .
What it says. Deep dark skin and bright white teeth, attributed to a named ancestor, Babalọla Ọmítọ́tan, are cast not as inherited accidents of biology but as chosen qualities, paralleled with a plant's choice to darken.
Significance. Barber's own analysis, cited alongside this text, frames it as eulogising the genetic and ancestral physical distinction of the lineage, asserting inherent beauty, pride and autonomy through the deliberate parallel with plant agency . This is a documented case of oríkì orílẹ̀ grounding lineage pride in physical appearance specifically, a category distinct from the martial, agricultural and craft-based claims more common elsewhere in this section.
Performed. Lineage gatherings, ancestral rites, naming ceremonies, funerals, and daily morning praises by wives and mothers, in the Ẹlẹ́mọ̀ṣọ́ lineage of Òkè-Ìlá / Òkukù ancestral stock .
Notes. Confidence on the reading of "by choice" (rather than a simpler "it pleased X to become") depends on how wu is parsed; the harvested gloss and translation both settle on the volitional reading without flagging the alternative, so this corpus reports that reading as given rather than proposing its own.
Ará ìlú Ọ̀yún, ara rí gbó mi láṣọ. Kẹ̀kẹ́ ta dùndún, aṣọ lẹ́dìdì ènìyàn. N ó bá ọ relú rẹ, ọmọ kálukú ló láṣọọ rẹ̀. Egbìnrin ńkọ́? Aṣọ òpó yín ni. Egbìnrin ńkọ́? Aṣọ òpó yín ni. Kèélekùlù láṣọ àrẹ́-pẹ́kun òpóó. Ẹnínléyò ilée yín ni wọ́n ti í rógi láṣọ.
Native of Oyun town, I'm wearing my clothes out. The spinning wheel spins merrily, cloth is the covering of people. I'll go with you to your town, child of "Everyone has their own cloth." What about egbinrin cloth? It's your post's cloth. What about egbinrin cloth? It's your post's cloth. Kelekulu is the very best of all the post's cloths. Ileyo people, it's in your family they dress up a post in cloth.
Translated by Karin Barber, from I Could Speak Until Tomorrow, pp. 93-94 and 130 .
What it says. A call-and-response structure built around a specific and unusual practice: dressing a carved or ritual post (òpó) in named grades of cloth (egbìnrin, kèélekùlù), presented as the distinguishing craft and ceremonial marker of this lineage, alongside a general claim to weaving and textile production.
Significance. This text names its own source precisely, with page numbers, which is rare in this harvest's material and allows a higher confidence rating than most orílẹ̀ texts in this section. Barber's own reading, reported alongside the text, is that the closing line's image of wrapping a post in woven cloth functions as the lineage's distinct visual and ritual symbol , comparable to how a coat of arms or a totem operates, but expressed through textile practice rather than through an animal or plant emblem.
Performed. Ceremonial gatherings of the compound, ancestral lineage rites, bridal departure chants (rárà ìyàwó), and funeral obsequies, chanted by the wives of the lineage in call-and-response, and by female oríkì chanters and brides in Òkukù .
Variants. The source records a further, extensive branch of this same lineage's oríkì recounting a farmer's dispute over locusts destroying crops at Alé-Ọ̀yún, escalating to judgment before the Aláàfin at Ọ̀yọ́, and saluting further ancestors named Ọmọ Ẹrúbàmí and Ọmọ Abímbọ́wọ́ . That branch is not independently transcribed in the material available to this corpus and is noted rather than reconstructed.
Mọlúfọ́n Adé àwọn baba mi, Oríkondo níí mú'lé wọn sú mi í lọ, Ẹ pèlé Ọm'Olóòṣà kan Òòṣà kàn.
Molufon Ade of my fathers, Orikondo that makes going to their home never tire me, Greetings to you, child of the one and preeminent Orisa (Obatala).
Translated by Adeboye Babalola, in Àwọn Oríkì Orílẹ̀ (1967) .
What it says. A dynastic name, Mọlúfọ́n Adé, tied by name to a place, Oríkondo, and closed with an explicit identification of the lineage as descendants of "the one and preeminent Òrìṣà," which the source glosses as Ọbàtálá.
Significance. This traces the lineage identity, royal descent and Ọbàtálá priesthood origins of the Olúfọ́n line of Ifọn-Òrolú directly to Ilé-Ifẹ̀ and Ọbàtálá , connecting a specific eastern Ọ̀sun-area dynasty to the primary òrìṣà associated with creation and moulding, treated at length in 06-orisa/04-obatala.md and 23-orisa-deep/01-obàtálá.md, which this file does not restate.
Performed. Civic gatherings, lineage celebrations, installation rites of the Olúfọ́n, and festival invocations .
Notes. No separate literal gloss was available in the harvested source; this is stated rather than filled with a compiler-constructed gloss, per this corpus's rule against back-constructing what a source did not supply.
Olúgbọ́n Agbe, ọkùnrin ogun lọ́tùn-ún, olè lósì, Ọmọ olóóro ẹgbẹ́ olóola. Ẹ̀ẹ́sún kì í hù nínú igbó, nínú oko tí a ro l'ẹ́ẹ́sún hù sí. Ọkùnrin ogun t'í ti ọ̀wọ̀ ọfà bọra. Gúnyándémi, àgbàlagbà tó roko rẹ̀. Rókadémi, ọmọ Erúùkú. Ta l'ó ba Ẹ̀sọ́ jà l'ẹ́yìn Ẹ̀sọ́?
Olugbon Agbe, man of war resorting to theft on the left hand side, offspring of a titled woman in the society of circumcisers. The elephant grass does not grow in the forest but in the farm clearings. Man of war carrying sheaves of arrows. Gunyandemi, an elderly man tilling his farm. Rokademi, offspring of Eruuku. Who fought against the Ẹ̀sọ́ from behind?
Translated by S. Adeboye Babalola, in The Content and Form of Yoruba Ijala (1966) .
What it says. The opening line states directly, without euphemism, that this warrior is a man of war on one side and a thief on the other, an admission of banditry folded into the same breath as martial praise. The elephant-grass proverb, that the plant grows only in cleared farmland, not virgin forest, functions as a riddle-like commentary on where opportunity (for a warrior, presumably plunder) actually arises.
Significance. yoruba-rara in 13-oral-literature presents a related Ẹ̀ṣọ́ Ìkòyí text (the mérú/mèrù tonal-pun passage) and analyses the genre's obligation not to omit a lineage's unflattering material even where the performer is paid by that lineage; this text is the same lineage's oríkì from a different source, Babalola's ìjálá corpus rather than the Kolawole article yoruba-rara draws on, and it independently confirms the pattern: theft is named as plainly as valour. Readers wanting the tonal-pun analysis of "who took slaves, who took property" should consult yoruba-rara directly rather than this file, which does not repeat that analysis.
Performed. Hunters' guild assemblies (ìjálá performance sessions), annual ancestral festivals including Egúngún outings, and chieftaincy installations .
Notes. The harvested excerpt ends on the rhetorical question "who fought the Ẹ̀sọ́ from behind the Ẹ̀sọ́?" without the answer the full performance presumably supplies; this is reported as a truncation of the available source material, not resolved by this corpus.
Karin Barber's finding that oríkì in Okuku is held and performed mainly by women, with texts showing what that custodianship does at a wedding, at a festival, and inside a marriage.
How oríkì is built from independent units rather than narrative sequence, and the specific mechanisms, tonal, structural, and referential, that make it resist translation.
The secular chanting genre of praise, who the rárà singer is and how the performance is shaped by the audience paying for it, and the accuracy that makes rárà more than flattery.
Lineage and town-of-origin oríkì for four major Yoruba groups, including two variant texts for Ọ̀fà shown side by side rather than merged.
The complete classification of oríkì by subject, orílẹ̀ through eranko, with a worked text for each kind and the boundary cases that show the categories are not airtight.
Where oríkì with reliable Yoruba originals and named translators actually lives in print, who collected it, and what is and is not digitised or open access.