Two further Esu texts beyond the one analysed for its poetics elsewhere in this section, two Osanyin herbal-medicine oriki of markedly different quality, and the hunter-diviner Osoosi's homage formula.
06-orisa/08-esu.md and 23-orisa-deep/07-èsù.md hold the theological account of Èṣù; 23-orisa-deep/09-osanyìn.md and 23-orisa-deep/11-osoosì.md hold the same for Ọ̀sanyìn and Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì. oriki-poetics-and-untranslatability in this section already presents and analyses one Èṣù text, the "slept in a nut" paradox passage translated by Rowland Abiodun, for its accretive non-narrative structure specifically. This file adds two further Èṣù texts, two Ọ̀sanyìn texts of visibly different sourcing quality, and Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì's homage formula.
Èṣù Òdàrà, ọ̀tá òrìṣà, ọmọkùnrin Ìdólófin, ó lé sọ́ńsó sí orí ẹsẹ̀ ẹlẹ́sẹ̀, kò jẹ, kò jẹ́ kẹ́ni tí ó jẹ ó jẹ. A sọ́tùn-ún sọ́sì láì nítìjú, Èṣù àpáta sọmọ olọ́mọ lẹ́nu, Àtùká máṣe é sá, Èṣù máṣe mí, máṣe ọmọ ẹlòmíì!
Èṣù, adversary of the other deities, the son of Ìdólófin, the troublesome and aggressive one, he will not eat, yet he stops others from eating. He turns to the right and to the left without shame. Èṣù, the stone that strikes another's child on the mouth. He who causes a scattering...
Attributed to "Pierre Verger / Ulli Beier research tradition," from a source titled "Iconography and Oral Poetry of Yoruba Divinities" (1980) .
What it says. Èṣù is here named directly as "adversary of the divinities" (ọ̀tá òrìṣà), a stronger and more oppositional framing than the paradox-based Abiodun text in oriki-poetics-and-untranslatability, which presents him as a force that turns good into bad and back rather than as an enemy of the pantheon outright. The closing line is a petition of deflection, asking Èṣù to trouble someone else's child instead.
Significance. This text documents a distinct emphasis within Èṣù's praise tradition: disruption as active hostility (spiking feet, preventing others from eating, striking children) rather than only as cosmic ambiguity. Read beside the Abiodun text, it shows the range this corpus's translation rule requires making visible: Èṣù is not praised the same way in every collected performance, and a reader encountering only one text would miss how much variation the tradition itself contains.
Performed. The opening phase of any ritual, prior to Ifá divination consultations, at shrines or crossroads (oríta) before proceeding with worship of any other divinity .
The attribution "Pierre Verger / Ulli Beier research tradition" names two real scholars but does not cite a specific individually authored publication with a page reference; confidence on the precise translation is medium.
Èṣù, Èṣù Òdàrà, Èṣù Láàlú ògiriòkò. Ọkùnrin orí ìta, a jó lángá lángá lálú, a rìn lánjá lánjá lálú. Ó dé ibi ìjà dé mọ́lẹ̀. Ìjà ni ọ̀tárù bá d'élée 'fẹ̀, tó fi dé ọmọ wọn.
Èṣù, Èṣù of Transformation, Èṣù of the City, strong as a stone wall. Man of the crossroads, dance briskly through the town. Strut swiftly through the town. He arrives where there is strife and locks it down. Strife and discord entered the house of Ifẹ, and reached even to their children.
Attributed jointly to "Awo Fa'lokun Fatunmbi / Wande Abimbola liturgical tradition," from a source citing both a devotional publication ("Oríkì Èṣù: Praising the Divine Messenger") and Rowland Abiodun's Yoruba Art and Language as points of reference, dated 1997 .
What it says. In marked contrast to the previous text's Èṣù-as-adversary framing, this text presents Èṣù arriving at conflict and containing it ("locks it down"), and traces a specific narrative fragment of strife reaching the house of Ifẹ̀ and its children, which the harvested excerpt does not resolve.
Significance. Placed beside the two texts above, this gives a third distinct register for Èṣù within a single harvest: cosmic paradox (Abiodun's text), active adversary (the first text here), and crisis-container (this text). 06-orisa/08-esu.md treats the theological reconciliation of these apparently contradictory functions; this file's job is only to show that the praise tradition itself holds all three without resolving them into one consistent portrait, consistent with the accretive, non-reconciling structure oriki-poetics-and-untranslatability documents as characteristic of the genre generally.
Performed. Daily morning prayers, prior to Ifá divination rites, before opening communal rituals, and when setting off on a journey .
As with the previous text, the attribution names real scholarly figures (Wande Abimbola, Rowland Abiodun) in association with a devotional compilation rather than citing one specific authored publication and page; confidence is medium.
Ìbà Ọ̀sanyìn, ìbà oní ewé. Àngbẹ́rì, ewé gbogbo kìkì oògùn. Agbenigi, òròmodìẹ abìdí sonso, Èsìnsìn abẹ́dọ̀ kínníkínní, Koogo egbòrò irin, Àképè nígbà ọ̀ràn kò sunwọ̀n, Àrónì jà kòtò dígun mọ́yà.
Praise to Osanyin, praise to the owner of leaves. The supernatural one, one who turns all leaves into medicine. One who is versed in the use of roots, one who has a sharp, pointed tail like that of a chick. One who has a liver as crystal clear as a fly's, one who is as powerful as an iron rod...
Attributed jointly to "Awo Fategbe Fatunmbi / Pierre Verger (referenced corpus)," from a Medium.com essay, "Ìbà Ọ̀sanyìn: Praise to the Owner of Herbal Medicine" .
What it says. A dense catalogue of physical, animal-derived comparisons (chick's rear, fly's liver, an iron rod) building toward Ọ̀sanyìn's identity as the definitive authority over leaves and herbal medicine, and his association with Àrónì, a one-legged forest spirit tied to Ọ̀sanyìn in the wider tradition.
Significance. The physical-comparison-catalogue structure here is the same accretive, non-connective method oriki-poetics-and-untranslatability documents for Wínyọmí and for Èṣù: a string of independently vivid images, none elaborated, none logically connected to its neighbours.
Performed. Not independently stated in the source beyond general classification as praise recited to Ọ̀sanyìn.
The source is a personal essay on Medium, a self-publishing platform, referencing Verger without a specific citation; confidence is medium-to-low, and this corpus notes that the essay author writes under the name "Awo Fategbe Fatunmbi," a title suggesting an initiated Ifá priest rather than an academic scholar, which this corpus reports as descriptive fact rather than as a mark against the text's ritual authenticity.
Atóóbájayé o Àfọ̀njá, Ewéeee-l'érè oo, Ewéeee, ewéeee-l'érè oo. Ewé ni ń ṣe ọ́ báyìí bí? Ọkọ láyà mi Ọ̀run. Ṣèèréjọbí ewé tí í ṣọmọ orí igi, Ìpín báwọ̀nyí ń ṣọmọ agbìjàlẹ̀.
The adequate protector, Afonja, there is great value in the knowledge of herbs, herbs! There is value in the knowledge of herbs. Is it the knowledge of herbs that makes you behave like this? You are my husband in Heaven. Seerejobi leaves belong to the...
Translated in a source attributed to "Will Coleman Ph.D. (OER Commons Religious Studies Project)," undated within the harvested record beyond that attribution .
What it says. A song-like, repetitive structure ("ewéeee, ewéeee-l'érè oo" as a refrain) invoking Àfọ̀njá, a historical name also associated with the nineteenth-century Ìlọrin leader treated in 19-warfare and the towns section, here apparently used as a praise epithet for Ọ̀sanyìn or addressed to him, a connection the harvested material does not explain and this corpus does not resolve by speculation.
This text raises a genuine interpretive puzzle this corpus states rather than answers: why the historical name Àfọ̀njá appears inside an Ọ̀sanyìn oríkì is not explained in the source material available. It may reflect a distinct oral tradition connecting the historical figure to herbal knowledge, a borrowed epithet doing different work in different contexts (the boundary-crossing oriki-typology documents generally), or a transcription artifact. This corpus reports the puzzle rather than inventing a resolution for it. Confidence on this text: medium-to-low, given the source (an open courseware platform) and the unresolved Àfọ̀njá reference.
Ìbà Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì. Ìbà Ológararẹ̀. Ìbà Oníbébè. Ìbà Oṣọ́lọ́kẹ́rẹ́. Ọdẹ àta mātáṣe, Agbáni níjọ́ tó burú, Oní idídẹ gan fi dí ìjà, A júbà. Àṣẹ.
Praise to the Spirit of the Tracker/Hunter. Praise to the master of himself. Praise to the owner of the riverbank. Praise to the magician of the forest. Hunter who never misses his mark, savior who delivers in times of adversity, owner of the sacred parrot who stands firm to confront fear and struggle, I salute you. May it be so.
Translated jointly by Will Coleman and Awo Fa'lokun Fatunmbi, from an open courseware source on Ifá ritual praises .
What it says. A structured sequence of ìbà (homage) invocations, each naming a distinct epithet, unerring marksmanship, self-mastery, association with riverbanks (linking Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì to the water-adjacent Erinlẹ̀/Ọ̀ṣun cluster of divinities), forest knowledge, and deliverance in crisis.
Significance. The epithet Oníbébè ("owner of the riverbank") documents a connection between Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì, principally known as a hunter divinity, and the water-associated divinities treated in oriki-orisa-osun-yemoja-oya, a link the source's own commentary makes explicit by naming Ọ̀ṣun and Erinlẹ̀ alongside him . The source further notes Kétu as Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì's historic royal seat as Alákétu, connecting this oríkì to the diaspora nation-name material towns-oriki-orile treats for the Kétu and Nagô traditions in Brazil.
Performed. Invocations, annual festival rites, shrine opening ceremonies, hunter guild rituals, and before undertaking journeys or seeking justice .
Variants. The source records several name variants in circulation: Òṣọ́ọ̀sì, Ọ̀sọ́ọ̀sìn, Ẹ̀ṣọ́ùsì, Ọ̀sáòsì, alongside a longer praise line, "Òṣọ́ọ̀sì ọdẹ àta mātáṣe, Onígbó Olúwa ẹranko, Ó wọ igbó já," not independently glossed here .
Esu as orisa in his own right: the messenger who carries sacrifice, the keeper of the crossroads, the activator of ase, the one who tests. The Satan conflation is handled in 04-cosmology; this page is about what Esu actually is.
A comprehensive scholarly examination of Èṣù across Yoruba cosmology, oral literature, ritual iconography, regional cult organization, and transatlantic diaspora traditions.
The Yoruba deity of botanical pharmacopoeia, herbal medicine, and forest mysteries, who operates in essential partnership with Ifa divination.
The Yoruba orisa of hunting, stealth, forest strategy, and unerring justice, from his royal center in Ketu to his transformed status in the Atlantic diaspora.
How oríkì is built from independent units rather than narrative sequence, and the specific mechanisms, tonal, structural, and referential, that make it resist translation.
Three Ọbàtálá texts from Idowu, Beier and the Verger fieldwork tradition, and three Ṣàngó texts of markedly different sourcing quality, presented with an explicit account of which meet this corpus's standard.