Dialect Variants and Regional Proverbs

This file's title promises more than Owomoyela's collection, this corpus's primary proverb source, actually supports, and the honest thing to do is say so before presenting anything. Owomoyela states his own editorial position directly: "I have also balked at the call for the use of 'original dialects', Ekìtì, Ẹ̀gbá, Ìjẹ̀ṣà, Ìjẹ̀bú, Ondó, Ọ̀yọ́, and so forth, in my transcription of the proverbs. The desire to 'fix' pan-Yorùbá proverbs in such a manner is... inappropriate and alien to the spirit of proverbs" 1 He goes further: fixing a proverb's dialect of origin would, in his view, misrepresent how oral tradition actually works, since proverbs "live in their not being canned, in their being able to respond to each occasion and each audience according to the dialectal, idiosyncratic, or any other particularity of the performer" 1 This is a considered scholarly position, not an oversight, and it means his 5,235-proverb collection is deliberately not a dialect atlas.

What the collection does yield, and what this file presents instead, are two smaller and more honest categories: proverbs that name a specific people or town as their subject, sometimes uncomplimentary, which is real evidence of regional identity in proverb content even without confirmed regional origin; and proverbs Owomoyela's own introduction identifies as datable by internal historical markers, evidence of when a proverb entered circulation rather than where.

Proverbs naming a specific people or town

1. A bímọ lÓwu, wọ́n ní "akọ ḿbábo?" Èwo ni yó ṣọmọ níbẹ̀?

Literal: A bímọ lÓwu a-child-is-born in-Òwu, wọ́n ní "akọ ḿbábo?" they-ask "is-it-male-or-female?" Èwo ni yó ṣọmọ níbẹ̀? which-one will-turn-out-well there?

Idiomatic: "A child is born in Òwu and people inquire, 'Boy or girl?' Which can be expected to turn out well?" 1

Meaning: Neither answer redeems the child, because the proverb assumes all Òwu people are worthless regardless of sex.

Used when: Owomoyela's note states the proverb's content plainly: "A sentiment that Òwu people are uniformly worthless; a suggestion, therefore, that all members of a certain group are uniformly worthless" 1

Notes: Owomoyela's footnote identifies Òwu as an ancient Ẹ̀gbá Yorùbá town [S1, note 1]. This proverb is reported here as a documented example of a real Yorùbá genre, the disparaging saying about a named town's people, not as evidence the sentiment is deserved; Owomoyela's own gloss frames it as a case of unwarranted group generalisation, and this corpus follows that framing.

Source: 1 Owomoyela 3475, with note 1.

2. A kì í yin ará Ìjẹ̀mọ̀ pé ó mọ àsẹ̀ hun; a ní "Àmọ̀nímàná alẹ́ àná ni mo fi pète ìdí ẹ."

Literal: A kì í yin ará Ìjẹ̀mọ̀ one does-not praise a-person-of-Ìjẹ̀mọ̀ pé ó mọ àsẹ̀ hun as knowing how-to-weave-sieves; a ní "Àmọ̀nímàná alẹ́ àná ni mo fi pète ìdí ẹ" he-says "only-last-night did-I start on-its-base."

Idiomatic: "One does not praise an Ìjẹ̀mọ̀ person as an expert at weaving sieves, for then he will boast, 'Only last night did I start on it!'" 1

Meaning: Praising a person of this specific community for a skill invites an inflated, undermining boast about how little effort the skill actually required them.

Used when: Used, per Owomoyela's cross-reference to a related entry, as a caution against praising people prone to self-undermining boastfulness 1.

Notes: Ìjẹ̀mọ̀ is a named subgroup, and this proverb, alongside entry 1, is direct evidence that regional or communal stereotype was a real and current subject for Yorùbá proverb-speech, even though Owomoyela declines to say whether the proverb itself originated among Ìjẹ̀mọ̀ speakers, their neighbours, or elsewhere.

Source: 1 Owomoyela 3480; compare 639.

3. Ọlọ́run ló gbé Ìgbìrà gẹṣin.

Literal: Ọlọ́run ló gbé it-was-God who-placed Ìgbìrà an-Ìgbìrà-person gẹṣin on-a-horse.

Idiomatic: "It was God that placed an Ìgbìrà man on a horse." 1

Meaning: One should not resent an outsider's unexpected rise to prominence; blame, if any, belongs to God, not the person.

Used when: Owomoyela's note: "One should not be angry at the upstart who makes it big and becomes garrulous; the blame is God's" 1

Notes: Owomoyela's footnote states plainly: "The Yoruba consider Ìgbìrà people to be bumpkins" [S1, note 20]. The Ìgbìrà (Ebira) are a distinct, neighbouring ethnic group rather than a Yorùbá subgroup, and this proverb documents an inter-ethnic rather than intra-Yorùbá regional stereotype, worth distinguishing from entries 1 and 2, which concern Yorùbá communities proper.

Source: 1 Owomoyela 3589, with note 20.

Proverbs Owomoyela dates by internal historical marker

His introduction sets out the method directly: "An event referred to in a proverb obviously predates it, and one that is about a historical figure probably originated during the lifetime or soon after the demise of that person" 1 Four examples follow, quoted in his introduction rather than catalogued with entry numbers in the main collection, and reproduced here for that reason with a page citation rather than an entry number.

4. Ọlọ́run ò pín dọ́gba; Sajiméjì ju Kòròfọ́.

Literal: Ọlọ́run ò pín dọ́gba God has-not apportioned equally; Sajiméjì ju Kòròfọ́ the-Sergeant-Major exceeds the-Corporal.

Idiomatic: "God has not apportioned things equally; the Sergeant Major outranks the Corporal." 1

Meaning: Inequality of rank or station is presented as divinely unequal apportionment, not human injustice.

Notes: Owomoyela cites this specifically as historically markable: the British military ranks named place its origin after the establishment of British presence in Yorùbá country, and he narrows the window further, suggesting it likely postdates the establishment of the British West Africa Frontier Force and the recruitment of local soldiers into its ranks 1.

Source: 1, Introduction, p. 27.

5. Ìmàle sọ̀rọ̀ òjò kù; ó ní Ọlọ́run sán-ìn sí i.

Literal: Ìmàle sọ̀rọ̀ the-Muslim speaks òjò kù thunder rumbles; ó ní Ọlọ́run sán-ìn sí i he-says God signs-off on-it.

Idiomatic: "The Muslim spoke and thunder rumbled; he said God has signed off on the matter." 1

Meaning: The speaker treats a coincidental natural event as divine ratification of what he has just said.

Notes: Owomoyela reads two separate historical markers here: the reference to Ìmàle, a practitioner of Islam, situates the proverb after Islam's establishment in the region; and the image of authentication by "signing off" reflects the practice of signing documents to indicate agreement, a habit Owomoyela associates with European contact rather than with indigenous practice 1. Two markers converging on one proverb make it one of the more confidently dated texts in his introduction.

Source: 1, Introduction, p. 27.

6. Adìẹ kọwé; Òyìnbó kà á tì.

Literal: Adìẹ kọwé the-chicken wrote-something; Òyìnbó kà á tì the-white-man cannot read-it.

Idiomatic: "The chicken wrote something; the white man cannot read it." 1

Meaning: A mocking comment on illegible handwriting.

Notes: Owomoyela identifies this as "a popular derogatory comment on bad calligraphy during colonial days, particularly in the primary schools, where penmanship was an important part of the curriculum" 1 The reference to literacy and to a specific colonial-era institutional setting, the primary-school penmanship curriculum, makes this one of the more socially specific of his four dated examples, tied to an institution rather than only to a general period.

Source: 1, Introduction, p. 27.

7. "Dídì-dídì" lòpin-in sinimá.

Literal: "Dídì-dídì" "The End" (the-title-card-phrase) lòpin-in sinimá is-the-end of-the-cinema-show.

Idiomatic: "'The End' is the end of the cinema show." 1

Meaning: Used to mark the definitive conclusion of any matter, borrowing the fixed closing convention of a film screening.

Notes: Owomoyela dates this "to some time after the Colonial Film Unit introduced cinema featuring propaganda shows during the colonial period" 1, which makes it, alongside entry 6, direct evidence of how quickly Yorùbá proverb-speech absorbed and repurposed new colonial-era institutions and their conventions into its own idiom.

Source: 1, Introduction, p. 27.

8. Akíni ń jẹ́ akíni, afinihàn ń jẹ́ afinihàn: èwo ni "Ọ kú, ará Ìbàdàn" lójúde Ṣódẹ̀kẹ́?

Literal: Akíni ń jẹ́ akíni a-greeter is a-greeter, afinihàn ń jẹ́ afinihàn a-betrayer is a-betrayer: èwo ni "Ọ kú, ará Ìbàdàn" lójúde Ṣódẹ̀kẹ́? what-is-the-motive-for "Hello, Ìbàdàn-native" in-front-of-Ṣódẹ̀kẹ́'s-house?

Idiomatic: "A greeter is a greeter, a betrayer is a betrayer; what is the motive for 'Hello, Ibadan native,' in front of Ṣodẹkẹ's home?" 1

Meaning: A friendly greeting offered in a context of known danger is treated as inherently suspect, its motive questioned rather than trusted.

Notes: This is Owomoyela's fullest dated example, and he supplies the specific historical anchor directly: the proverb "certainly originated in the late nineteenth century during the Yorùbá wars and in the lifetime of one General Ṣódẹ̀kẹ́, who led the Ẹ̀gbá in their conflict with Ìbàdàn," citing Ajayi and Smith [S1, citing S2]. During that conflict, he notes, a person from Ìbàdàn caught in Abẹ́òkúta, especially near General Ṣódẹ̀kẹ́'s residence, would be assumed to be up to no good, which is the scene the proverb's rhetorical question stages. This corpus's account of that conflict and of Ṣódẹ̀kẹ́'s role is at 03-history/abeokuta-and-the-egba.md and 03-history/ibadan.md, and readers wanting the fuller military and political history should go there.

Source: 1, Introduction, p. 27-28, citing 2 Ajayi, J. F. Ade, and Robert Smith, Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge University Press, 1964; 2nd ed., Ibadan: Cambridge University Press and Ibadan University Press, 1971).

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Reading this set

The honest finding of this file is methodological as much as textual: the primary source this corpus relies on for proverb texts deliberately withholds dialect attribution as a matter of considered editorial principle, not oversight, and this corpus does not manufacture attribution the source declines to give. What can be shown instead, and is shown above, is that Yorùbá proverbs do sometimes name specific communities as their subject (entries 1-3) and do carry internal historical markers datable to specific periods and events (entries 4-8), which together constitute real regional and historical texture even without a dialect atlas. A study genuinely mapping proverb variation across Ekìtì, Ẹ̀gbá, Ìjẹ̀ṣà, Ìjẹ̀bú, Ondó, and Ọ̀yọ́ speech would require fieldwork-based dialectology this corpus's available sources do not supply, and no such claim is made here.