Ṣàwárí

What Yorùbá proverbs do in speech and in law, and a worked collection of more than forty proverbs in original, literal gloss, and idiomatic English.

What oríkì are, the different kinds, who performs them and why, and how they carry history that written records do not.

Ifá is a Yorùbá system for reaching a decision by casting a signature, retrieving the memorised verses filed under it, and reasoning from the precedents they contain.

The verses filed under each Odù are case reports in verse, built to a described eight-part structure, held collectively across practitioners rather than by any one person.

A map of the Yoruba oral genres treated in this section, what each file holds, and where the neighbouring sections carry the material this one does not duplicate.

How Yoruba verbal art is classified into named genres by vocal manner rather than subject, who performs each and on what occasion, and why the European category "oral literature" fits the material imperfectly.

Fifty-eight Yorùbá proverbs on character, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.

Forty-eight Yorùbá proverbs on the ọmọlúàbí ideal, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about telling the truth, the mechanics of lying and self-deception, and the value placed on a person whose word is reliable.

Forty-three Yorùbá proverbs on sùúrù, patience, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.

Fifty-five Yorùbá proverbs on pride, arrogance, humility, and the limits of what a person can know about themselves, each given with the original, a literal gloss, and a named translation.

Thirteen sourced Yorùbá proverbs on shame, disgrace and reputation, presented with the original, a literal gloss, and a named translation, honestly reflecting how thin this theme is in the digitised record available to this corpus.

Twenty-one Yorùbá proverbs on doing and receiving favors, the risk that kindness goes unrewarded or turns to harm, and the moral weight of ingratitude, drawn from a thinner sourced record than most themes in this corpus.

Forty-six Yorùbá proverbs on facing danger, the coward's self-betrayal, toughness and invulnerability, and endurance under hardship, each given with the original, a literal gloss, and a named translation.

Fifty Yorùbá proverbs on foolishness, wisdom as practical judgement, and the way experience, not instruction alone, is what actually teaches.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about the household, the lineage, the father's house and the obligations that follow from being born into a particular family.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs on bearing and raising children, the duties of parents, the training of the young, and what passes from one generation to the next.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about courtship, the bond between husband and wife, and the frictions and duties of the polygynous marriage itself.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs on what friendship actually obliges, how far trust can safely go, and what betrayal by an intimate looks like.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs on what age and seniority are owed, what they owe back, and the limits of both.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs on the duties of host and visitor, the structural vulnerability of the stranger in a Yorùbá town, and the reciprocal etiquette that hospitality is built on.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs on what a person owes the town and neighbours beyond the household, and what interdependence, gossip and collective responsibility look like in practice.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs on what starts and escalates a quarrel, how an enemy is handled, and the limits of grudge and revenge.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs on the ọba (king), the olóyè (titled chief), and the obligations, dangers and limits that come with holding power over others.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about the ọjà, the market, as an economic institution and a public stage, and about the traders, buyers and sellers who work it.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about riches, destitution, debt and the uses and limits of money, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.

Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about labour, the farm and the discipline of effort, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.

Seventy Yorùbá proverbs on the idler, the shirker and the squanderer, each with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation it is spoken in.

Sixty-seven Yorùbá proverbs on hunger, eating, restraint at table and the difference between a full house and an empty one, each with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation it is spoken in.

Forty Yorùbá proverbs on destiny, the allotted orí, and what a person can and cannot change about their lot, each with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation it is spoken in.