Ìwà kì í fi oníwà sílẹ̀.
Character as the ground of a person
Original
Ìwà kì í fi oníwà sílẹ̀.
Literal gloss
- Ìwà character kì í fi does-not leave oníwà the-owner-of-character sílẹ̀ behind.
Idiomatic English
"Character will not forsake its owner."
No translator is named in the source.
What it means
Character is permanent property. It does not detach from the person who has it.
Used when
Owomoyela: "One cannot shed one's character" Said of someone expecting a change of place or circumstance to make them a different person.
Notes on the translation
Oníwà, the owner of character, is formed on the productive oní- prefix that makes an owner-noun from any noun. Yorùbá treats character as a possession throughout this set of proverbs, which is why shed rather than change is the right English verb.