Kí ọmọdé tó gbọn, ìwà-a ẹ̀ á bàjẹ́.
Ìpilẹ̀
Kí ọmọdé tó gbọn, ìwà-a ẹ̀ á bàjẹ́.
Ìtumọ̀ ọ̀rọ̀-sí-ọ̀rọ̀
- Kí ọmọdé tó gbọn before a-child becomes wise, ìwà-a ẹ̀ his character á bàjẹ́ will-be spoiled.
Ìtumọ̀ Gẹ̀ẹ́sì
"Before a child learns wisdom, he or she will have earned a bad reputation."
Orísun náà kò dárúkọ ẹni tí ó túmọ̀ rẹ̀.
Ohun tí ó túmọ̀ sí
Wisdom arrives after the damage that teaches it.
Ìgbà tí a ń lò ó
Owomoyela: "One seldom learns wisdom before one has made some blunders" Used to argue for patience with a young person.
Àkíyèsí lórí ìtumọ̀
Bàjẹ́ covers both spoiled and disgraced, so the Yorùbá does not separate the ruin of the character from the ruin of the name, and Owomoyela's "reputation" chooses one side of a word that holds both. Read against entry 33 the pair is not consistent: 33 says formation is the household's job, 34 says failure is unavoidable first. Yorùbá proverbs are tools selected for occasions, not clauses in a system.