Èèyàn-án rìn, òjìjí tẹ̀lé e; kò ṣé-é mú, kò ṣé-é jù sápò.
Character as the ground of a person
Original
Èèyàn-án rìn, òjìjí tẹ̀lé e; kò ṣé-é mú, kò ṣé-é jù sápò.
Word-for-word gloss
- Èèyàn-án rìn a-person walks, òjìjí tẹ̀lé e the-shadow follows him; kò ṣé-é mú it-cannot be-grabbed, kò ṣé-é jù sápò it-cannot be-thrown into-a-pocket.
Idiomatic English
"A person walks along, and his or her shadow follows; it cannot be grabbed, and it cannot be slipped into the pocket."
Di source no name any translator.
Wetin e mean
Character accompanies a person inseparably and cannot be managed or put away.
When dem dey use am
Owomoyela: "No one can hide his or her character"
Notes on di translation
The proverb never names character; it is stated entirely as an observation about shadows, and the hearer supplies the referent. This is a common Yorùbá proverb structure and one of the reasons proverbs work as indirect correction: nothing has been said about anyone.