Ẹni à ńbá rìn là ńfìwà jọ.
Character and other people
Ìpilẹ̀
Ẹni à ńbá rìn là ńfìwà jọ.
Ìtumọ̀ ọ̀rọ̀-sí-ọ̀rọ̀
- Ẹni à ńbá rìn the-one we walk with là ńfìwà jọ is-whom we resemble in-character.
Ìtumọ̀ Gẹ̀ẹ́sì
"It is the person whose company one keeps that one emulates."
Orísun náà kò dárúkọ ẹni tí ó túmọ̀ rẹ̀.
Ohun tí ó túmọ̀ sí
People take their character from those they move with.
Ìgbà tí a ń lò ó
Owomoyela: "One should match one's comportment to one's company"
Àkíyèsí lórí ìtumọ̀
Bá rìn, to walk with, is the ordinary Yorùbá expression for keeping company, and the proverb is literal about the mechanism: character is transmitted by proximity and repetition, not by instruction. Compare entry 26, which states the same process as damage.