Òwe on Family, Lineage and the Compound
Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about the household, the lineage, the father's house and the obligations that follow from being born into a particular family.
This file collects Yorùbá proverbs about the family and the physical and social unit it occupies. The Yorùbá word ilé does triple duty: it is the building, the household living in it, and the descent group that traces itself to a common ancestor, so a proverb that appears to be about a house is very often about a lineage. Almost every proverb here turns on that ambiguity, and the literal glosses are written to keep it visible rather than resolve it prematurely.
The organising social fact behind these proverbs is the agbo ilé, the compound: a cluster of dwellings around a shared courtyard housing a patrilineage, its wives, its children, its dependents and often its pawns and clients . The baálé is the male head of that compound, the ìyálé the senior woman in it. Membership is not a private matter, because a person's conduct is read as evidence about the house that produced them, and the house is answerable for what its members do outside it.
How this file is sourced
The great majority of entries below are taken from Oyekan Owomoyela's digitised proverb collection The Good Person: Excerpts from the Yorùbá Proverb Treasury, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which prints each proverb in standard orthography with full tone marking, followed by Owomoyela's own English translation and a bracketed note on what the proverb asserts and when it is used . Where a proverb is marked , the Yorùbá text and the idiomatic English are Owomoyela's, reproduced as printed. That collection is drawn from the same decades of fieldwork that produced his Yoruba Proverbs (Nebraska, 2005), which gathers 5,235 proverbs .
The literal line in each record is by the compiler of this corpus, working from Owomoyela's printed Yorùbá and separating out the metaphor that his idiomatic rendering smooths. Where the compiler's literal reading and Owomoyela's idiomatic rendering pull in different directions, the note says so. The used when line follows Owomoyela's usage annotation where he gives one, and is marked as the compiler's inference where he does not.
Owomoyela's orthography preserves the elisions of ordinary speech, so forms like ńṣe and ọ̀rẹ́-ẹ̀ mí appear as he prints them rather than in a normalised citation form. His convention of hyphenating compressed nominal phrases, as in À-bí-ì-kọ́, is also preserved.
The house as lineage
1. Ilè-ni-mo-wà kì í jẹ̀bi ẹjọ́.
Literal: Ilè-ni-mo-wà "at-home-is-where-I-was" kì í jẹ̀bi ẹjọ́ is-never-guilty-in a-case.
Idiomatic: "I-was-in-my-home" is never the guilty party in a dispute. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: The person who stayed on their own premises is not the one who caused the trouble.
Used when: Advanced in defence of someone accused of involvement in a quarrel they took no part in, and more generally to argue that minding one's own business is a legal as well as a moral protection .
Notes: The subject of the sentence is an entire quoted clause treated as a name, a construction Yorùbá uses freely and English cannot imitate without quotation marks. The proverb assumes a jurisprudence in which physical location at the time of an incident is close to dispositive.
2. A kì í lé èkúté ilé ẹni ká fọwọ́ ṣẹ́.
Literal: A kì í lé one does-not chase èkúté ilé ẹni the-mouse-of one's-house ká fọwọ́ ṣẹ́ and break one's-hand.
Idiomatic: One does not shoosh the mouse in one's house and break one's hand. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Home is where you are supposed to be able to act without coming to harm.
Used when: Said when someone is injured or ambushed in a setting that should have been safe, most pointedly when the injury comes from within the household .
Notes: Èkúté ilé, the house mouse, is a domestic nuisance rather than a danger, which is what makes the broken hand absurd. Compare entry 3, which makes the same claim about war.
3. A kì í gbélé gba ọfá láìlọ ogun.
Literal: A kì í gbélé one does-not dwell-at-home gba ọfá receive an-arrow láìlọ ogun without-going-to war.
Idiomatic: One does not sit at home, not go to war, and yet be shot with an arrow. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Consequences ought to follow only from participation.
Used when: Protesting that one has been made to suffer for a venture one had no part in .
Notes: The proverb states a norm, not a fact, and the situations it is used in are precisely those where the norm has failed.
4. Sún mọ ọ̀hún, sún mọ́ ìhín! Bí a bá kan ògiri ilé-e baba ẹni, ṣe là ńdúró gbọin-gbọin.
Literal: Sún mọ ọ̀hún, sún mọ́ ìhín move over there, move over here Bí a bá kan ògiri if one strikes-against the-wall ilé-e baba ẹni of-one's-father's-house ṣe là ńdúró gbọin-gbọin it-is-thus one stands firm-firm.
Idiomatic: Move away, move over here! When one moves until one is against the walls of one's father's house, one stands steadfast. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: There is a limit to how far a person can be pushed back, and that limit is the family's own ground.
Used when: Said by or about someone who has conceded repeatedly and will concede no further .
Notes: Ilé baba ẹni, one's father's house, is the patrimony and the last defensible position at once, and the physical wall in the image is also the boundary of inherited right. The reduplicated ideophone gbọin-gbọin conveys immovable solidity and has no English equivalent, so "steadfast" is a considerable loss.
5. Olòṣì ọmọ ní ńfọwọ́ òṣì júwe ilé-e baba-a ẹ̀.
Literal: Olòṣì ọmọ a-wretched child ní ńfọwọ́ òṣì júwe is-who uses-the-left-hand to-point-out ilé-e baba-a ẹ̀ his-father's house.
Idiomatic: It is a worthless child that points the way to his father's house with his left-hand fingers. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Contempt shown toward one's own origin is proof of the person's own worthlessness.
Used when: Spoken against someone who disparages their family, their town or their inheritance in public .
Notes: The left hand is the improper hand for giving, receiving and pointing in Yorùbá etiquette, so the gesture is an insult, not merely careless. There is a pun that English cannot hold: olòṣì is a wretch and òṣì is both the left hand and destitution, so the proverb says a destitute child points with the destitute hand, and the character defect and the gesture are named with the same root.
6. Ẹni tí ó ba ogún-un baba rẹ̀ jẹ́, ó ja òkú ọ̀run lólè, yó sì di ẹni ìfibú.
Literal: Ẹni tí ó ba ogún-un baba rẹ̀ jẹ́ whoever spoils his-father's inheritance ó ja òkú ọ̀run lólè he has-robbed the-dead-of-heaven yó sì di ẹni ìfibú and-will become a-person-of-reproach.
Idiomatic: Whoever ruins his or her father's bequest robs the dead, and becomes a person of reproach. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Squandering an inheritance is a theft from the ancestors, not merely a waste of assets.
Used when: Said of an heir dissipating family land, houses or a title .
Notes: Òkú ọ̀run, the dead in heaven, are the lineage ancestors, who in Yorùbá understanding retain an interest in the property they left. The proverb makes the offence a crime with a victim rather than mere improvidence, which is the whole force of it.
7. A kì í ní ọ̀kánjúwà ká mọ̀; ará ilé ẹni ní ńsọ fúnni.
Literal: A kì í ní ọ̀kánjúwà ká mọ̀ one does-not have covetousness and know-it ará ilé ẹni one's-household-people ní ńsọ fúnni are-who tell it-to-one.
Idiomatic: One does not know that one has covetousness; it is one's kin who so inform one. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A person's faults are invisible to the person and obvious to those who live with them.
Used when: Used to justify a hard word spoken by a relative, and to argue that correction from inside the house should be accepted rather than resented .
Notes: Ará ilé is the standing term for co-residents of a compound, covering kin and dependents alike, so the proverb locates moral knowledge in the domestic group rather than in friends or in the wider town.
8. Bí a bá ta ará ilé ẹni lọ́pọ̀, a kì í rí i rà lọ́wọ̀n-ọ́n mọ́.
Literal: Bí a bá ta ará ilé ẹni lọ́pọ̀ if one sells one's-household-member cheaply a kì í rí i rà lọ́wọ̀n-ọ́n mọ́ one does-not get to-buy him at-a-high-price again.
Idiomatic: If one sells a member of one's household cheap, one will not be able to buy him back at a great value. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Once you have publicly cheapened a member of your own family, you cannot restore their standing later when you need it.
Used when: Said as a warning to someone airing family failings outside the compound, and afterward as a diagnosis of why the family has no credit left .
Notes: The buying and selling image is not idle. In the era in which the proverb formed, household members could in fact be pawned or sold, and the proverb repurposes a real transaction as a metaphor for reputation. Owomoyela's usage note glosses it as being about a besmirched name .
9. Bí a bá sọ̀kò sí àárín ọjà, ará ilé ẹni ní ḿbà.
Literal: Bí a bá sọ̀kò sí àárín ọjà if one throws a-stone into the-middle-of the-market ará ilé ẹni ní ḿbà one's-household-member is-who it-hits.
Idiomatic: If one throws a stone into the market place, it hits someone from one's household. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Indiscriminate harm comes back onto your own people, because your own people are in the crowd.
Used when: Said against blanket accusations, curses and reprisals aimed at a whole group .
Notes: The image assumes the market is where everyone is, including your relatives, which is a precise sociological observation about the Yorùbá town. This is among the most frequently cited Yorùbá proverbs and translates almost without loss.
10. A-sọ́-ẹ̀hìnkùlé ba araa rẹ̀ nínú jẹ́; ohun tó wuni là ńṣe nílé ẹni.
Literal: A-sọ́-ẹ̀hìnkùlé one-who-spies-over-the-backyard-wall ba araa rẹ̀ nínú jẹ́ spoils his-own insides ohun tó wuni là ńṣe nílé ẹni what pleases-one is-what one does in-one's-own-house.
Idiomatic: He-who-spies-on-others-from-behind-their-walls upsets himself; one does as one pleases in one's home. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Conduct inside a person's own compound is their own business, and the person who goes looking will only make themselves miserable.
Used when: Said to gossips and to neighbours who report what they saw over the wall .
Notes: Ẹ̀hìnkùlé is the backyard, the compound's private zone behind the public front, and the proverb draws a real spatial line between what is open to comment and what is not.
11. Nítorí ara ilé la ṣe ńdá ṣòkòtò ará oko dára.
Literal: Nítorí ara ilé because-of the-people-of-the-house la ṣe ńdá ṣòkòtò ará oko dára is-why one sews the-farm-person's trousers well.
Idiomatic: It is with the town dweller in mind that one makes the bush person's trousers well. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: You do good work even for someone who cannot judge it, because it will be seen by people who can.
Used when: Said to a craftsman tempted to cut corners for an unsophisticated client .
Notes: The ilé and oko opposition here is town against farm rather than house against outside, which is one of the standard senses of the pair, and Owomoyela translates ara ilé as "town dweller" accordingly. The proverb is also a compact statement about reputation travelling ahead of the maker.
12. Ibi tí a bá ńgbé la ti ńgbàwìn; à-rà-àì-san ni ò sunwọ̀n.
Literal: Ibi tí a bá ńgbé the-place where one lives la ti ńgbàwìn is-where one takes-credit à-rà-àì-san buying-without-paying ni ò sunwọ̀n is-what is-not good.
Idiomatic: One's home is a legitimate place to buy things on credit; what is bad is avoiding payment. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Drawing on the resources of those close to you is proper; failing to repay them is not.
Used when: Used to defend someone criticised for leaning on relatives, and to distinguish legitimate kin obligation from exploitation of it .
Notes: Owomoyela's usage note generalises it beyond commerce to favours of every kind . The nominal à-rà-àì-san is built by the à- prefix and the negative àì-, packing "the buying that is not paid for" into one word.
The head of the house
13. Ojú kì í pọ́n baálé ilé kó fọwọ́ gbálẹ̀ ilé ẹ̀.
Literal: Ojú kì í pọ́n baálé ilé hardship does-not press the-head-of-the-house kó fọwọ́ gbálẹ̀ ilé ẹ̀ that-he sweep his-house with-his-hand.
Idiomatic: A head of a household is never so hard up that he sweeps his compound with his bare hands. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: There are things a person of standing must not do however desperate their circumstances.
Used when: Said to dissuade someone respectable from a degrading expedient .
Notes: Ojú pọ́n ni, literally "the eye reddens one," is the ordinary idiom for being hard pressed, and the redness is of strain rather than anger. Sweeping is done with a bound broom; using bare hands marks total destitution.
14. Ọ̀yájú-u baálé ní ńpàdé ìbòsí lọ́nà.
Literal: Ọ̀yájú-u baálé the-impudence-of a-head-of-house ní ńpàdé ìbòsí lọ́nà is-what meets an-alarm-cry on-the-road.
Idiomatic: It is a reckless home owner who is met with alarms when he ventures outside. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A household head who behaves badly will be publicly shamed the moment he leaves his compound.
Used when: Said of a man whose authority at home is not matched by standing in the town .
Notes: Ìbòsí is the shouted public alarm raised against a wrongdoer, a specific institution rather than general noise, so the proverb describes a formal humiliation. Owomoyela's note reads it as a patriarch earning disgrace .
15. À-rí-ì-gbọdọ̀-wí, baálé ilé yọkun lémú.
Literal: À-rí-ì-gbọdọ̀-wí a-thing-seen-that-must-not-be-said baálé ilé the-head-of-the-house yọkun lémú has-mucus at-the-nose.
Idiomatic: Something-seen-but-unmentionable, the man of the house walks around with mucus dripping from his nose. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: When the person in authority behaves shamefully, nobody in the house is in a position to tell him.
Used when: Cited to name the silence around a powerful person's obvious failing .
Notes: A second version replaces the running nose with a grosser act: À-rí-ì-gbọdọ̀-wí, baálé ilé ṣu sápẹ, "Something-seen-but-unmentionable, the man of the house shits in the sauce-pan" Owomoyela prints both, and the coarser variant makes the same point about untouchable authority more violently. The opening nominal is a whole relative clause compressed by hyphenation, a device this collection preserves.
16. Baálé ilé kú, wọ́n fi olókùnrùn rọ́lé; ẹkún ńgorí ẹkún.
Literal: Baálé ilé kú the-head-of-the-house died wọ́n fi olókùnrùn rọ́lé they used an-invalid to-prop-the-house ẹkún ńgorí ẹkún weeping climbs-upon weeping.
Idiomatic: The man of the house died and they put an invalid in his place; weeping climbs upon weeping. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Replacing a lost leader with someone incapable compounds the disaster instead of ending it.
Used when: Said of a bad succession, in a family, a chieftaincy or any office .
Notes: Rọ́lé, to prop the house, is what a supporting post does, so the invalid is being asked to be structural. The closing clause ẹkún ńgorí ẹkún is a stock formula for compounded misfortune and recurs in other proverbs with different nouns.
17. Ọbẹ̀ tí baálé kì í jẹ, ìyálé ilé kì í sè é.
Literal: Ọbẹ̀ tí baálé kì í jẹ the-stew that the-head-of-house does-not eat ìyálé ilé kì í sè é the-senior-woman-of-the-house does-not cook it.
Idiomatic: The sort of stew the man of the house will not eat, the woman of the house should not cook. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Do not do what you know the people you live with cannot abide.
Used when: Used to argue for accommodation within a household, and more widely for not needlessly offending one's associates .
Notes: Baálé and ìyálé are the paired senior offices of the compound, and their morphological symmetry, both built on ilé, carries the sense of a matched pair that English titles do not. Owomoyela's usage note generalises to comrades rather than spouses .
18. Kì í dọwọ́-ọ baba kó ló di ọwọ́ ọmọ.
Literal: Kì í dọwọ́-ọ baba it-does-not fall-to-the-hand-of the-father kó ló di ọwọ́ ọmọ that-he say it-falls-to the-hand-of the-child.
Idiomatic: Responsibility does not devolve on the father only for him to say it is his son's duty. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Seniority is a burden of duty, not only a claim to deference.
Used when: Said against an elder who pushes an obligation onto a junior .
Notes: Dọwọ́, to fall into the hand of, is the ordinary idiom for a matter becoming someone's responsibility. The proverb is one of a set that constrain elders rather than empower them; see also file 14 in this section.
19. Kàkà kí bàbá ran ọmọ ní àdá bọ oko, oníkálukú a gbé tiẹ̀.
Literal: Kàkà kí bàbá ran ọmọ ní àdá rather-than the-father send the-child with a-cutlass bọ oko returning-from the-farm oníkálukú a gbé tiẹ̀ each-person will carry his-own.
Idiomatic: Rather than the father carrying the son's cutlass home from the farm, each will carry his own. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Where deference has broken down, the senior party asserts the proper order rather than colluding in its reversal.
Used when: Said when a junior declines a customary service and the senior refuses to make up the difference .
Notes: Owomoyela reads it as declining to abet insolence . Note that the Yorùbá makes the father the one who would otherwise carry, which is the inversion the proverb refuses.
Fathers, mothers and the weight of names
20. Ìyá là bá bú; bí a bú baba ìjà ní ńdà.
Literal: Ìyá là bá bú the-mother is-whom one should insult bí a bú baba if one insults the-father ìjà ní ńdà a-fight is-what results.
Idiomatic: One would be wiser to insult "another person's" mother; if one insults the father a fight would certainly ensue. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: An insult to a man's father is the one that cannot be absorbed.
Used when: Cited as practical advice about the limits of abuse in a quarrel .
Notes: Owomoyela's usage note draws the conclusion that "a father is valued well over a mother" That inference is contestable and should be handled carefully, because Yorùbá proverb literature elsewhere gives the mother an unmatched emotional primacy, as in the widely attested Ìyá ni wúrà, mother is gold. What the proverb establishes directly is that the father's name is the point of honour attached to lineage standing, which is a claim about patrilineal descent rather than about affection. This corpus records the disagreement rather than resolving it. Owomoyela's bracketed inserts, here "another person's," are his own clarifications.
21. Ọlọgbọ́n ọmọ ní ḿmú inú-u bàbá ẹ̀ dùn; aṣiwèrè ọmọ ní ḿba inú ìyá ẹ̀ jẹ́.
Literal: Ọlọgbọ́n ọmọ a-wise child ní ḿmú inú-u bàbá ẹ̀ dùn is-who makes his-father's inside sweet aṣiwèrè ọmọ a-foolish child ní ḿba inú ìyá ẹ̀ jẹ́ is-who spoils his-mother's inside.
Idiomatic: A wise child gladdens the heart of his father; an imbecile of a child saddens the heart of his mother. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A child's conduct registers directly on both parents, differently on each.
Used when: Said in praise or in reproach of a grown child, with the parents present or invoked .
Notes: Inú dùn, the inside is sweet, and inú bàjẹ́, the inside is spoiled, are the standard Yorùbá idioms for gladness and grief, locating emotion in the belly rather than the heart, which is why the literal gloss keeps "inside." The asymmetry of father with the wise child and mother with the fool is a rhetorical pairing rather than a doctrine, and this proverb closely parallels the biblical Proverbs 10:1. Given the depth of Yorùbá Christian literacy since the mid-nineteenth century, the possibility of biblical influence on this particular item cannot be dismissed, and the same caution applies here as to the good-name proverb discussed in yoruba-owe-proverbs. Owomoyela prints it without comment on provenance. Confidence on origin: contested.
22. Ọlọgbọ́n ni yó jogún ògo; aṣiwèrè ni yó ru ìtìjú wálé.
Literal: Ọlọgbọ́n the-wise-one ni yó jogún ògo is-who will inherit glory aṣiwèrè the-fool ni yó ru ìtìjú wálé is-who will carry shame home.
Idiomatic: The wise child will inherit glory; the idiot child will bring shame home with him. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: What a child brings back to the compound, honour or disgrace, is the real inheritance question.
Used when: Said of children sent out to trade, to school or to a patron .
Notes: Jogún is literally to eat an inheritance, the standard verb for inheriting, so glory here is a bequest received, while shame is a load carried, ru. The two verbs make honour something given to you and disgrace something you brought yourself.
23. A pè ọ́ lọ́mọ erín-màgbọn ò ńyọ̀; ìwọ pàápàá ló mì í?
Literal: A pè ọ́ lọ́mọ erín-màgbọn one calls you child-of the-elephant-that-swallows-coconut ò ńyọ̀ you are-rejoicing ìwọ pàápàá ló mì í you yourself is-it-who swallowed it?
Idiomatic: You are described as the child of the elephant that swallows coconuts, and you rejoice; are you the one who swallows coconuts? (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Praise inherited from a parent is not praise you have earned.
Used when: Said to deflate someone trading on a father's reputation .
Notes: The phrase ọmọ erín-màgbọn is an oríkì formula, the praise-epithet idiom in which a person is named as the child of a formidable being, and the proverb turns the convention against the person enjoying it. Owomoyela's note is exact: the description honours the father, not the addressee .
24. Gànràn-gànràn ò yẹ ẹni a bí ire.
Literal: Gànràn-gànràn unrestrained-clattering-behaviour ò yẹ does-not befit ẹni a bí ire one whom-one bore well.
Idiomatic: Unrestrained and thoughtless behavior does not befit a well-born person. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Birth into a good family imposes a standard of conduct.
Used when: A rebuke to someone of known family behaving coarsely in public .
Notes: A bí ire, well-born, literally "one whom they birthed well," refers to the manner and legitimacy of the birth and to the standing of the family, not to wealth. Gànràn-gànràn is an ideophone for noisy, uncontrolled movement; English has to state as an adjective what Yorùbá states as a sound.
25. Abùlàǹgà kì í ṣasán; bíyàá ò lọ́rọ̀, baba a lówó lọ́wọ́.
Literal: Abùlàǹgà kì í ṣasán the-arrogant-one is-not-arrogant for-nothing bíyàá ò lọ́rọ̀ if-the-mother has-no wealth baba a lówó lọ́wọ́ the-father will-have money in-hand.
Idiomatic: The arrogant person is not arrogant for nothing; if his mother is not wealthy, his father must be rich. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Bearing that confident usually rests on family resources somewhere behind it.
Used when: Said, often drily, of someone whose self-assurance seems unearned, and Owomoyela glosses it as asserting that there should be some basis for one's strutting .
Notes: The proverb is double-edged and can be heard either as explanation or as accusation, depending on delivery. That both parents are canvassed as possible sources is worth noting for the question of maternal property, since Yorùbá women traded on their own account and held their own wealth.
26. À-bí-ì-kọ́; à-kọ́-ì-gbà; òde ló ti ńkọ́gbọ́n wálé.
Literal: À-bí-ì-kọ́ one-born-but-not-taught à-kọ́-ì-gbà one-taught-but-not-accepting òde ló ti ńkọ́gbọ́n wálé it-is-from outside that-he learns-wisdom homeward.
Idiomatic: A-child-that-was-never-taught-how-to-behave; a-child-that-was-taught-but-that-refused-to-heed-instruction; it is from outside the home that he will learn wisdom. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A child the household fails to train will be trained by the world, and harshly.
Used when: Said as a warning to negligent parents, and afterwards as an explanation of how a young person came to grief .
Notes: The first two phrases are a fixed pair naming two distinct failures, the untaught child and the unteachable one, and they are used independently of this proverb as diagnostic labels. This is the pessimistic counterpart to the more familiar claim that conduct is learned at home; see Ilé la ti ń kọ́ ẹ̀ṣọ́ rọ̀de in yoruba-owe-proverbs.
27. Inú ẹni lorúkọ tí a ó sọ ọmọ ẹni ńgbé.
Literal: Inú ẹni inside oneself lorúkọ tí a ó sọ ọmọ ẹni ńgbé is-where-the-name that one will call one's-child resides.
Idiomatic: It is inside oneself that the name one will name one's child resides. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Keep your intentions to yourself until you act on them.
Used when: Advice against announcing plans in advance .
Notes: The image is culturally specific and load-bearing. A Yorùbá name is a statement about the family's circumstances at the child's birth, so a name held in reserve is a family's private account of itself, which is why it works as the emblem of a secret.
28. Ọ̀gà-ǹ-gà lọmọ-ọ̀ mi ńjẹ́, ẹ má pe ọmọ-ọ̀ mi ní Ògò-ǹ-gò mọ́! Èwo lorúkọ rere níbẹ̀?
Literal: Ọ̀gà-ǹ-gà lọmọ-ọ̀ mi ńjẹ́ Ọ̀gàǹgà is-what my-child is-called ẹ má pe ọmọ-ọ̀ mi ní Ògò-ǹ-gò mọ́ do-not call my-child Ògòǹgò any-more Èwo lorúkọ rere níbẹ̀ which is-the-good-name among-them?
Idiomatic: My child's name is Ọ̀gàǹgà; don't you call my child Ògòǹgò any more! Which of the two is a good name? (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Insisting on one bad option over another equally bad one changes nothing.
Used when: Said when someone defends a choice that is no better than the alternative they reject .
Notes: The two names differ only in vowels and tone and both are nonsense-sounding, which is the joke and is untranslatable. The final line is the speaker's aside to the audience, a common structure in which a proverb quotes a scene and then comments on it.
29. Àpọ́nlé ni "İyá-a Káà"; ìyá kan ò sí ní káà tí kò lórúkọ.
Literal: Àpọ́nlé ni "Ìyá-a Káà" an-honorific is "Mother-of-the-Chamber" ìyá kan ò sí ní káà there-is-no mother in the-chamber tí kò lórúkọ who has-no name.
Idiomatic: Calling a person "Mother of the Compound" is only a mark of respect; there is no mother in the compound who does not have a name. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A title conferred by others can be withdrawn by them, and it never replaces the person underneath it.
Used when: Said to someone who has begun to mistake an honorific for an identity .
Notes: Káà is an inner chamber or apartment within the compound, and Owomoyela renders it as compound in the idiomatic line. The proverb belongs with the political proverbs on conferred authority in file 18, and it applies the same logic to domestic titles.
Siblings, juniors and seniors within the house
30. Ẹ̀gbọ́n ṣíwájú ó so aṣọ kọ́; àbúrò-ó kẹ́hìn ó wẹ̀wù; bí a ò mọ̀lẹ, ọ̀lẹ ò mọ araa rẹ̀?
Literal: Ẹ̀gbọ́n ṣíwájú the-senior walks-in-front ó so aṣọ kọ́ he has-hung cloth-up àbúrò-ó kẹ́hìn the-junior walks-behind ó wẹ̀wù he is-wearing a-garment bí a ò mọ̀lẹ if we do-not know-the-idler ọ̀lẹ ò mọ araa rẹ̀ does-the-idler not know himself?
Idiomatic: The elder walks in front, a loincloth draped over his shoulder; the younger walks behind, wearing a garment; if people cannot tell which one is shiftless, does he not know himself? (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Seniority in birth does not confer competence, and the person falling short knows it whether or not anyone says so.
Used when: Said where an older sibling or senior is visibly outstripped by a junior .
Notes: The clothing detail carries the argument: the senior has only an unsewn cloth thrown over a shoulder while the junior wears a made garment, so relative prosperity has inverted the birth order. Ẹ̀gbọ́n and àbúrò are strictly relative terms of relative age, applied to siblings and to cousins alike, and Yorùbá has no unmarked word for "brother" independent of that ranking.
31. Àbúrò rẹ ńdáṣọ fún ọ, o ní o ò lo elékuru; ta ní ńlo alákàrà?
Literal: Àbúrò rẹ ńdáṣọ fún ọ your junior-sibling is-buying-cloth for you o ní o ò lo elékuru you say you will-not wear the-bean-grits-pattern ta ní ńlo alákàrà who is-it-that wears the-bean-fritter-pattern?
Idiomatic: Your junior brother (or sister) buys clothing for you, and you say you will not wear anything with bean-grits patterns; who has the right to opt for clothing with bean-fritter patterns? (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A person receiving a favour from a junior is in no position to be particular about it.
Used when: Said of an ungrateful beneficiary, especially one whose claim to be choosy rests on a seniority they are not otherwise living up to .
Notes: Elékuru and alákàrà are named cloth patterns, both called after cheap bean foods, so the two options the speaker is weighing are already at the bottom of the range, which is the joke. The pattern names do not survive translation and Owomoyela renders them literally.
32. Dàda ò leè jà, ṣùgbọ́n ó lábùúrò tó gbójú.
Literal: Dàda ò leè jà Dàda cannot fight ṣùgbọ́n ó lábùúrò tó gbójú but he-has a-junior-sibling who is-bold.
Idiomatic: Dada cannot fight, but he has a brave younger brother. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A person's own incapacity is not the measure of what their family can bring to bear.
Used when: Said in warning to anyone who calculates that a mild person can be pushed around .
Notes: Dàda is the name given to a child born with locked hair, and such children are traditionally regarded as gentle and as being under particular spiritual protection, which is exactly why the name is chosen here. The proverb is a compact statement of lineage as a security guarantee, and it stands behind the practice of reckoning an insult to an individual as an insult to the house.
33. Òjò kan kì í báni lábà ká jìjàdù ọ̀rọ̀-ọ́ sọ; bí ẹgbọ́n bá sọ tán, àbúrò á sọ.
Literal: Òjò kan kì í báni lábà one rain does-not meet-one in-a-hut ká jìjàdù ọ̀rọ̀-ọ́ sọ that-we scramble to-speak bí ẹgbọ́n bá sọ tán when the-senior has-finished speaking àbúrò á sọ the-junior will speak.
Idiomatic: When people are trapped in a hut by a downpour there is no sense in fighting to get a word in the discussion; after the older person has spoken, the younger person will speak. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Where there is time enough for everyone, taking turns by seniority costs nobody anything.
Used when: Said to calm people competing to be heard .
Notes: Owomoyela's usage note reads it as being about a surplus commodity making a scramble pointless . The proverb is also a plain description of how speaking order works in a Yorùbá gathering, and the two readings do not conflict.
34. Ète lẹ̀gbọ́n; ìmọ̀ràn làbúrò; bí-a-ó-ti-ṣe lẹ̀kẹta wọn.
Literal: Ète lẹ̀gbọ́n intention is-the-senior ìmọ̀ràn làbúrò deliberation is-the-junior bí-a-ó-ti-ṣe lẹ̀kẹta wọn how-we-shall-do-it is the-third-of them.
Idiomatic: Intention is the eldest, contemplation is the next, and plan of action is the third. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Purpose comes first, then deliberation, then method, in that order.
Used when: Cited to insist that a group settle what it wants before arguing about how .
Notes: The proverb uses kinship rank as a metaphor for logical priority, which is a common Yorùbá move and shows how thoroughly the sibling-seniority frame is available for abstract ordering. Rendering ẹ̀gbọ́n as "eldest" loses that it means specifically the elder of a pair.
35. Ojú kì í pọ́nni ká fàbúrò ẹni ṣaya.
Literal: Ojú kì í pọ́nni hardship does-not press-one ká fàbúrò ẹni ṣaya that-one take one's-junior-sister as-wife.
Idiomatic: One should not become so desperate that one takes one's younger sister as wife. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Necessity does not suspend the rules that define kinship.
Used when: Cited against any expedient that would breach a fundamental prohibition .
Notes: The proverb names the incest prohibition as the limiting case and uses it to argue about lesser matters, which is its normal application. It belongs to the same formula as entry 13, and the pair shows how ojú kì í pọ́n frames a whole class of proverbs about what hardship does not excuse.
36. Orogún ìyá ẹ-ẹ́ dáṣọ fún ọ o ní kò balẹ̀; mélòó nìyá ẹ-ẹ́ dá fún ọ tó fi kú?
Literal: Orogún ìyá ẹ-ẹ́ dáṣọ fún ọ your mother's co-wife made-cloth for you o ní kò balẹ̀ you say it does-not reach-the-ground mélòó nìyá ẹ-ẹ́ dá fún ọ tó fi kú how-many did-your-mother make for you before she died?
Idiomatic: Your mother's co-wife made a garment for you and you complain that it is not long enough; how many did your mother make for you before she died? (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A person living on charity is in no position to grade it.
Used when: Said to an ungrateful dependent, and specifically to a child raised by a stepmother .
Notes: Orogún is the co-wife relation, structurally the most fraught in the polygynous compound, and the proverb is unusual in taking the co-wife's side. The bite is in the last clause, which reminds the child that the mother who would have had first duty is dead. On the orogún relation itself see file 12.
The household under strain
37. Ọ̀bẹ ńwólé ara ẹ̀ ó ní òún ḿba àkọ̀ jẹ́.
Literal: Ọ̀bẹ ńwólé ara ẹ̀ the-knife is-demolishing its-own house ó ní òún ḿba àkọ̀ jẹ́ it says it is-ruining the-sheath.
Idiomatic: The knife is destroying its own home, it says it is ruining the sheath. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: The person tearing at their own household imagines they are only damaging someone else.
Used when: Said of a family member whose attacks on the house will leave them with nowhere to live .
Notes: A near-identical version substitutes Idà, sword, for Ọ̀bẹ, knife: Idà ńwó ilé ara ẹ̀ ó ní òún ḿba àkọ̀ jẹ́, and Owomoyela prints both with slightly different usage notes, the sword version framed as actions recoiling on the doer . The sheath is the blade's ilé, its house, which is what makes the metaphor work and is why the literal gloss must keep "house" rather than "scabbard."
38. Àìsí-ńlé ológbò, ilé dilé èkúté.
Literal: Àìsí-ńlé ológbò the-not-being-at-home of-the-cat ilé dilé èkúté the-house becomes-the-house-of the-mouse.
Idiomatic: The cat being away from home, the house becomes a domain for mice. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Supervision withdrawn is licence granted.
Used when: Said of a household, a workplace or a town in the absence of the person who holds it in order .
Notes: The paired proverb is Àìsí-ńlé ẹkùn, ajá ńgbó, "The leopard being away from home, the dog barks," which makes the same point with a wild predator and a domestic dog and shifts the emphasis to the minion's new boldness . The mouse version corresponds almost exactly to the English proverb about the cat and the mice, and the correspondence is likely independent rather than borrowed given how obvious the observation is.
39. Bí ìfà bí ìfà lọmọdé fi ńdáràn wọlé.
Literal: Bí ìfà bí ìfà as-though-a-windfall as-though-a-windfall lọmọdé fi ńdáràn wọlé is-how a-youth brings-trouble into-the-house.
Idiomatic: As though he were stumbling on treasures, thus a youth brings trouble into the household. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Young people bring home consequences they never saw coming and did not intend.
Used when: Said when a young person's action outside has landed the whole compound in a dispute .
Notes: Ìfà is a windfall or free gain, so the young person's cheerful acquisitiveness and the trouble are described with the same word, and the proverb assumes without argument that the household absorbs whatever its juniors incur, which is the legal reality it rests on.
40. Èèyan má-jẹ̀ẹ́-kí-èèyàn-kú ḿbẹ níbòmíràn; bó-le-kú-ó-kú m̀bẹ nílé-e wa.
Literal: Èèyan má-jẹ̀ẹ́-kí-èèyàn-kú people-of-the-do-not-let-a-person-die kind ḿbẹ níbòmíràn exist elsewhere bó-le-kú-ó-kú let-him-die-if-he-can m̀bẹ nílé-e wa exists in-our-house.
Idiomatic: Save-the-person-from-death type of people abounds elsewhere; let-the-person-die-if-he/she-wishes type abounds in our house. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: This household does not intervene to stop a person set on ruining themselves.
Used when: Owomoyela records two distinct uses: as a statement that it is not our way to stop the self-destructive, and as an admission that there are hard-hearted people among us .
Notes: The two readings differ in whether the speaker is defending the household or indicting it, and Owomoyela prints them side by side without deciding. Both quoted clauses are turned into nouns by position alone, and the deadpan of the second is entirely in the delivery. Confidence on meaning: contested, in the specific sense that the source itself gives two.
41. Àkèekèé ta Kindo lẹpọ̀n, ará ilée Labata ńrojú; kí ló kàn án níbẹ̀?
Literal: Àkèekèé ta Kindo lẹpọ̀n a-scorpion stung Kindo in-the-testicle ará ilée Labata ńrojú a-person-of Labata's-house is-wincing kí ló kàn án níbẹ̀ what concerns him in-it?
Idiomatic: A scorpion stung Kindo in the testicle, and a person from Labata's household frowns in dismay; what business is it of his? (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Do not take on the pain of a matter belonging to another house.
Used when: Said to someone inserting themselves into a dispute between other families .
Notes: The proverb assumes households as the natural units of concern, and its humour depends on the injury being both extremely painful and unmistakably private. Kindo and Labata are placeholder personal and household names.
42. Ọ̀ràn ò dun ọmọ ẹṣin; a mú ìyá ẹ̀ so, ó ńjẹ oko kiri.
Literal: Ọ̀ràn ò dun ọmọ ẹṣin trouble does-not pain the-foal a mú ìyá ẹ̀ so one has-taken its-mother and-tethered-her ó ńjẹ oko kiri it grazes the-field about.
Idiomatic: Problems make hardly any impression on the foal of a horse; its mother is tied down but it grazes nonchalantly about. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Some people are untouched by the suffering of those closest to them.
Used when: A reproach to a relative carrying on as normal while the family is in crisis .
Notes: Ọ̀ràn is a matter, an affair, and by extension trouble or a legal case, and its breadth is why the idiomatic "problems" is thin. The image is drawn from observed animal behaviour and reads as description rather than fable.
43. Adẹ́tẹ̀-ẹ́ ní òún sẹ́ ọ̀ràn kan de àwọn ará ilé òun; ó ní bí òún bá lọ sídàálẹ̀, wọn ò jẹ́ fi kàn-ìn-kàn-ìn òun wẹ̀.
Literal: Adẹ́tẹ̀-ẹ́ ní the-leper says òún sẹ́ ọ̀ràn kan de àwọn ará ilé òun he-has-a-certain-confidence regarding his household-people ó ní bí òún bá lọ sídàálẹ̀ he says if he goes on-a-journey wọn ò jẹ́ fi kàn-ìn-kàn-ìn òun wẹ̀ they will-not use his sponge to-wash.
Idiomatic: The leper says that he trusts his relatives on a certain matter; he says when he goes on a journey, they would not dare use his sponge to wash themselves. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Confidence in others is often really confidence that they have no appetite for what you are guarding.
Used when: Said drily where trust is claimed but the temptation was never real .
Notes: This is one of the most sardonic proverbs in the collection, and its edge is that the leper's security rests on being repellent rather than on being loved. Owomoyela reads it as being about people's knack for avoiding the distasteful . Leprosy carried heavy stigma, and the proverb uses that stigma without endorsing it.
44. Ọsán gbé ojú ọrun le kókó; bó bá wọ odò, a di ọ̀-rọ̀-pọ̀jọ̀-pọ̀jọ̀.
Literal: Ọsán gbé ojú ọrun le kókó the-bowstring on the-face-of the-bow is hard-knotted bó bá wọ odò if it enters the-river a di ọ̀-rọ̀-pọ̀jọ̀-pọ̀jọ̀ it-becomes limp-and-sodden.
Idiomatic: The bow-string is taut while it remains on the bow; dipped into the river it becomes very soft indeed. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A person is formidable on their own ground and helpless off it.
Used when: Said of someone whose authority does not travel beyond their own compound or town .
Notes: The closing ideophone ọ̀rọ̀pọ̀jọ̀pọ̀jọ̀ is a sound-picture of sodden limpness and Owomoyela can only render it with an intensifier. The proverb bears directly on why lineage members stay close to the family's home town.
Marrying out and marrying in
45. Ohun tí a ṣe nílé àna ẹni, "Ojú ńtì mí" kúrò níbẹ̀.
Literal: Ohun tí a ṣe nílé àna ẹni what one does in the-house-of one's-in-laws "Ojú ńtì mí" kúrò níbẹ̀ "I-am-ashamed" is-removed from-there.
Idiomatic: What one does in the home of one's parents-in-law leaves no room for "I am bashful." (Owomoyela)
Meaning: In-law obligations must be performed whatever the embarrassment.
Used when: Said to a young husband or wife hesitating over an awkward duty owed to the affinal family .
Notes: Ojú ńtì mí, literally "the eye is pushing me," is the ordinary idiom for shame or shyness, and quoting it as a phrase to be dismissed is a common Yorùbá rhetorical move. Affinal service, particularly labour on the in-laws' farm, was a real and demanding obligation.
46. "Òkè ìhín ò jẹ́ ká rí tọ̀ún" ò ṣéé pa lówe nílé àna ẹni.
Literal: "Òkè ìhín ò jẹ́ ká rí tọ̀ún" "the-hill-on-this-side does-not let-us see the-one-beyond" ò ṣéé pa lówe is-not fit to-be-spoken as-a-proverb nílé àna ẹni in-one's-in-laws'-house.
Idiomatic: "The nearer hill kept one from seeing the farther one" is not a proverb one uses in one's parents-in-law's home. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Some obligations cannot be waved away with a graceful excuse.
Used when: Said when someone offers a plausible reason for not meeting an in-law duty .
Notes: This is a proverb about proverbs, quoting a real excuse-formula in order to rule it out of a particular setting, and it is direct evidence that Yorùbá speakers reason explicitly about which òwe are admissible where. The verb pa òwe, to strike a proverb, is the standard collocation for using one.
47. "Sìn mí ká relé àna," ó wẹ̀wù ẹtù.
Literal: "Sìn mí ká relé àna" "escort me so-we-may-go-to the-in-laws'-house" ó wẹ̀wù ẹtù he wore a-garment-of ẹtù-cloth.
Idiomatic: "Go with me to my in-laws' home," and he wore a garment made from rich hand-woven material. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: The person asked to support you should not dress to outshine you.
Used when: Said of someone who converts a supporting role into a bid for attention .
Notes: Ẹtù is a prestigious indigo-dyed hand-woven cloth, so the detail is a precise status claim, not general finery. The visit to the in-laws is a formal occasion at which the suitor is being assessed, which is exactly why the escort's costume is an offence.
48. Oko kì í jẹ́ ti baba àti tọmọ kó má nìí àlà.
Literal: Oko kì í jẹ́ ti baba àti tọmọ farms are-not those-of father and those-of son kó má nìí àlà and lack a-boundary.
Idiomatic: Farms do not, by virtue of belonging to a father and his son, lack boundaries. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Closeness of kin is not a reason to leave property undefined.
Used when: Cited when relatives resist formalising who owns or holds what .
Notes: Àlà is the boundary mark between farm plots, physically a line of planted trees or a cleared strip. The proverb is evidence that Yorùbá land practice expected demarcation within the lineage as well as between lineages, and Owomoyela's note, that even close relatives benefit from good fences, is his own comparison.
49. Bí obìnrin ò bá gbé ilé tó méjì, kì í mọ èyí tó sàn.
Literal: Bí obìnrin ò bá gbé ilé tó méjì if a-woman has-not lived-in houses reaching two kì í mọ èyí tó sàn she does-not know which is-better.
Idiomatic: If a woman has not lived in at least two homes, she never knows which is better. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Comparison requires more than one experience.
Used when: Owomoyela glosses it generally, that one does not appreciate one's good fortune without having tasted adversity .
Notes: The literal referent is a woman who has been married into more than one household, since a Yorùbá bride moves to her husband's compound, so the proverb's evidence base is the experience of women who married twice. Owomoyela's idiomatic line keeps "homes" and his usage note abstracts away from marriage entirely, which is a real interpretive choice worth flagging. Read at face value the proverb is about comparing husbands' households.
50. Ọkùnrin tó fẹ́ òjòwú méjì sílé ò rẹ́ni fi ṣọ́lé.
Literal: Ọkùnrin tó fẹ́ òjòwú méjì sílé a-man who marries two jealous-women into-the-house ò rẹ́ni fi ṣọ́lé has-no-one to-use to-watch-the-house.
Idiomatic: A man who marries two jealous women has no one to tend his home in his absence. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Jealousy between co-wives destroys the household's capacity to run itself.
Used when: Said of a compound in disorder, and as caution before a second marriage .
Notes: Òjòwú means a jealous person and is applied overwhelmingly to co-wives. The proverb is practical rather than moral: its complaint is about the compound going unguarded, not about the emotional cost. Further proverbs on the co-wife relation are in file 12.
51. Ojúlé ló bá wá; ẹ̀bùrú ló gbà lọ́; ó dÍfá fún àlejò tí ńfẹ obìnrin onílé.
Literal: Ojúlé ló bá wá by-the-front-of-the-house is-how he came ẹ̀bùrú ló gbà lọ́ by-a-back-path is-how he went ó dÍfá fún àlejò it divined-Ifá for the-visitor tí ńfẹ obìnrin onílé who loves the-house-owner's woman.
Idiomatic: He entered through the front door, but it was through a hidden shortcut that he snuck away; it consulted the Ifa oracle for the visitor who has an affair with his host's wife. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Betraying hospitality ends in undignified flight.
Used when: Said of a guest who abuses the trust of the household that received him .
Notes: The phrase ó dÍfá fún, "it divined Ifá for," is the opening formula of an ẹsẹ Ifá, a divination verse, and its presence here shows a proverb built directly out of the Ifá corpus, which is one of the standard routes by which òwe enter circulation. The proverb sits at the junction of this file and file 15 on hospitality.
The house and the world outside it
52. Ọmọdé kì í ní ina níle kí tòde má jòó o.
Literal: Ọmọdé kì í ní ina níle a-child does-not have fire at-home kí tòde má jòó o such-that the-outside-one will-not burn him.
Idiomatic: A child does not have fire at home and therefore escape being burned by the fire abroad. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Standing at home is no protection against the dangers of the wider world.
Used when: Said to a young person relying on family importance when they go out .
Notes: The two fires are the household hearth and hostile fire outside, and familiarity with one confers no immunity to the other. This is the counterweight to entry 32: the family can avenge you but it cannot prevent what happens to you.
53. Bí ọmọdé ò bá rí oko baba ẹlòmíràn, a ní kò sí oko baba ẹni tó tó ti baba òun.
Literal: Bí ọmọdé ò bá rí oko baba ẹlòmíràn if a-youth has-not seen another-person's-father's farm a ní kò sí oko baba ẹni tó tó ti baba òun he says there-is-no-one's-father's-farm that equals his-father's.
Idiomatic: If a youth has never seen another person's father's farm, he says nobody's father's farm is as large as his father's. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Pride in one's family is usually a function of never having seen anyone else's.
Used when: Said to deflate provincial boasting, and to argue for sending young people out .
Notes: Oko baba ẹni, one's father's farm, is the concrete form of patrimony, and the proverb assumes farm size as the visible measure of a lineage's substance.
54. Ewúrẹ́ jẹ ó relé; àgùntán jẹ ó relé; à-jẹ-ì-wálé ló ba ẹlẹ́dẹ̀ jẹ́.
Literal: Ewúrẹ́ jẹ ó relé the-goat grazed and-went-home àgùntán jẹ ó relé the-sheep grazed and-went-home à-jẹ-ì-wálé the-grazing-without-coming-home ló ba ẹlẹ́dẹ̀ jẹ́ is-what ruined the-pig.
Idiomatic: The goat forages and returns home; the sheep forages and returns home; the pig's flaw is its habit of not returning home after foraging. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Travel and enterprise are fine; failing to come back is the ruin.
Used when: Said of someone who has gone away and not returned to their obligations, a common charge against migrants and traders .
Notes: The three domestic animals are ranked by their homing behaviour, and the pig's low standing in Yorùbá estimation is being explained by it. The nominal à-jẹ-ì-wálé compresses a whole habit into a single noun, the same device as in entry 26.
55. Àjò kì í dùn kódídẹ má rèWó.
Literal: Àjò kì í dùn a-journey is-never-so-sweet kódídẹ má rèWó that-the-parrot does-not go-to-Ìwó.
Idiomatic: The journey is never so pleasant that the parrot does not return to Ìwó. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: However good the sojourn, the person eventually goes home.
Used when: Said to reassure a family that an absent member will return, and to remind the absent one that they should .
Notes: Ìwó is a Yorùbá town, and odídẹ, the grey parrot, is associated with it in this formula; the connection is proverbial rather than ornithological. Owomoyela glosses it as the sojourner not letting pleasure obliterate thoughts of return . The rhyme of dùn and the town name does not survive.
56. Àlùkò ò ní ohùn méjì; "Ó dilé" lagbe ńké.
Literal: Àlùkò ò ní ohùn méjì the-woodcock has-not two voices "Ó dilé" "it-is-time-for-home" lagbe ńké is-what the-touraco cries.
Idiomatic: The woodcock has but one statement: "Ó dilé" (meaning "Time to head for home") is the cry of the touraco. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Know when the time has come to go home.
Used when: Said to guests, to traders at the end of a market day, and to anyone overstaying .
Notes: The proverb is built on onomatopoeia: the bird's call is heard as the Yorùbá phrase ó dilé. This kind of avian speech-hearing is common in Yorùbá oral literature and is untranslatable, since in English the bird simply makes a noise. Owomoyela keeps the Yorùbá phrase in his idiomatic line for exactly that reason.
57. Ahún ńre àjò, ó gbé ilé-e rẹ̀ dání.
Literal: Ahún ńre àjò Tortoise is-going-on a-journey ó gbé ilé-e rẹ̀ dání he carries his-house with-him.
Idiomatic: Tortoise embarks on a journey and takes his house with it. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: What matters most to you goes where you go.
Used when: Owomoyela glosses it as one's dearest possessions deserving one's closest attention .
Notes: Ahún, Tortoise, is the trickster of Yorùbá folktale, and his appearance normally signals cunning, but here the reference is simply anatomical. The proverb is also usable, and is used, as a remark about a person who cannot leave family business behind.
58. Ilé olóńjẹ là ńdẹ̀bìtì àyà sí.
Literal: Ilé olóńjẹ the-house-of the-food-owner là ńdẹ̀bìtì àyà sí is-where one sets one's-chest like-a-trap.
Idiomatic: It is in the home of a person who has food that one sets one's chest like a trap. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: People position themselves where there is something to be got.
Used when: Said of hangers-on attaching themselves to a prospering household .
Notes: Dẹ̀bìtì is to set a spring trap, and the image of a man laying his own torso as the trap is grotesque and deliberate. The proverb is cynical about the motives behind attachment to a rich house, which is a theme running through the hospitality proverbs in file 15.
59. Ilé ọ̀ṣọnú àyàyó; ta ní jẹ́ yalé ahun-káhun?
Literal: Ilé ọ̀ṣọnú the-house-of the-generous-one àyàyó is-a-place-of-being-filled ta ní jẹ́ yalé ahun-káhun who would turn-into the-house-of miser-upon-miser?
Idiomatic: To visit the home of a generous person is to be plied with food aplenty; who would think of visiting a miser? (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A household's generosity or meanness determines whether anyone comes to it.
Used when: Said in praise of an open house, and as reproach to a closed one .
Notes: Ahun-káhun, miser-upon-miser, is an intensifying reduplication with no English equivalent short of "utter miser." The proverb should be read alongside entry 58, which distrusts exactly the visitors this one attracts, and the pair is a good illustration of why proverbs cannot be assembled into a single doctrine.
60. "Ẹ kú-ulé" ò yẹ ará ilé; "Ẹ kú atìbà" ò yẹni tí ńtàjò bọ̀; ẹni tí ò kí ẹni, "Kú atìbà"-á pàdánù "Ẹ kú-ulé."
Literal: "Ẹ kú-ulé" ò yẹ ará ilé "greetings-of-the-house" does-not befit the-house-dwellers "Ẹ kú atìbà" ò yẹni tí ńtàjò bọ̀ "welcome-back" does-not befit the-one returning-from-a-journey ẹni tí ò kí ẹni "Kú atìbà" whoever does-not greet one "welcome-back" á pàdánù "Ẹ kú-ulé" will forfeit "greetings-of-the-house."
Idiomatic: "Greetings to you, house-bound ones" is improper for the house-bound to utter; "Welcome home" is not proper for the person arriving from a trip; whoever fails to give "welcome" to the person returning does himself or herself out of "greetings, house-bound." (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Greetings are directional, and refusing to give the one you owe forfeits the one you are owed.
Used when: Cited on the failure of courtesy between those at home and those returning .
Notes: Yorùbá greeting is an elaborate reciprocal system in which each formula belongs to a specific party in a specific situation, and this proverb is essentially a rule of that grammar stated as an òwe. Owomoyela cross-references a related item beginning Ẹni tí kò kíni "Kú àbọ̀ . . ." . English has no comparable set of position-specific greetings, which is why the translation is so laboured.
61. Ìlọ-ọ́ ya, oníbodè Atàdí; wọ́n kó o nílé, wọ́n gbà á lóbìnrin, ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ tó ní òun ó fi wádìí ọ̀ràn, ajá gbé e, ọmọ ẹ̀ tó lé ajá láti gba ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀, ó yí sí kàǹga; oníbodè Atàdí wá dáhùn ó ní, "Ìlọ-ọ́ yá."
Literal: Ìlọ-ọ́ ya departure is-due oníbodè Atàdí the-gatekeeper of-Atàdí wọ́n kó o nílé they burgled him at-home wọ́n gbà á lóbìnrin they took his-wife from-him ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ tó ní òun ó fi wádìí ọ̀ràn the-divining-chain he-said he-would use to-investigate the-matter ajá gbé e a-dog carried-it-off ọmọ ẹ̀ tó lé ajá his-child who chased the-dog ó yí sí kàǹga fell into a-well oníbodè Atàdí wá dáhùn the-gatekeeper of-Atàdí then answered ó ní "Ìlọ-ọ́ yá" he-said "departure is-due."
Idiomatic: It is time to get out of here, the gatekeeper of Atadi; his home was burglarized, his wife was taken from him, the divining string he was going to use to investigate matters was snatched by a dog, his son who ran after the dog to retrieve the divining string fell into a well; the gatekeeper of Atadi then spoke up and said, "It is time to get out of here." (Owomoyela)
Meaning: When misfortune compounds without limit in one place, the answer is to leave it.
Used when: Said when a household, a town or a venture has become untenable .
Notes: This is a narrative proverb, one that tells a complete story and frames it with a refrain repeated at the opening and the close, and its length is unusual for the genre. Ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ is the divining chain of Ifá, so the loss of it is the loss of the means of finding out what is wrong, which is the turning point of the sequence. The compound catastrophe strips the man of house, wife, divination and child in that order, which is a descending order of what a lineage needs to continue.
62. Àgbẹ̀jẹ ò korò nílé ńlá.
Literal: Àgbẹ̀jẹ ò korò pumpkin is-not bitter nílé ńlá in-a-large-house.
Idiomatic: Pumpkin is never bitter in a big household. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Where there are many mouths, nobody is fussy about the food.
Used when: Said of a household or group in which need has ended all complaint .
Notes: Owomoyela's own footnote explains the mechanism: the size of the household and the number of mouths to feed make even the slightly bitter pumpkin acceptable . Ilé ńlá, big house, means a populous compound rather than a grand building, which is the point that a literal English "large house" gets wrong.
63. A kì í pa asínwín ilé, nítorí ọjọ́ tí tòde yó bàá wá sílé.
Literal: A kì í pa asínwín ilé one does-not kill the-household's madman nítorí ọjọ́ tí tòde yó bàá wá sílé because-of the-day when the-outside-one will come to-the-house.
Idiomatic: One does not kill the imbecile within one's home, because of the day when the one from outside might visit one. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Keep your own difficult people; you will need them against other people's.
Used when: Said against purging a household of its awkward members .
Notes: Owomoyela's usage note puts it memorably: one should cultivate one's own madness, since one might need it to combat others' . The proverb is a hard-headed statement about the uses of an unpredictable relative and belongs with entry 32 on the family as deterrent.
64. A kì í tijú bá baálé ilé jẹ akátá; bó bá mú, ìwọ náà a mú tìẹ.
Literal: A kì í tijú one is-not too-ashamed bá baálé ilé jẹ akátá to-eat jackal with the-head-of-the-house bó bá mú if he takes ìwọ náà a mú tìẹ you also will take yours.
Idiomatic: One should not be too embarrassed to eat a jackal with one's host; as he helps himself, one also helps oneself. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Adopt the ways of the household you find yourself in.
Used when: Said to a guest or newcomer hesitating over unfamiliar food or custom .
Notes: Jackal is not ordinary fare, which is what makes the example pointed: the guest's discomfort is real and the proverb overrides it anyway. The rule stated here is the reciprocal of the host-precedence rule in file 15.
65. A kì í mọ ìyá Òjó ju Òjó lọ.
Literal: A kì í mọ ìyá Òjó one does-not know Òjó's mother ju Òjó lọ surpassing Òjó.
Idiomatic: One does not presume to know Òjó's mother better than Òjó himself does. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Nobody knows a family from outside better than the family knows itself.
Used when: Said to shut down an outsider pronouncing on a household's internal affairs .
Notes: Òjó is an ordinary Yorùbá personal name used here as a placeholder, given to a male child born with the umbilical cord around the neck. The comparative ju ... lọ is the standard construction discussed in yoruba-owe-proverbs.
66. Bí Ọlọ́run ò ṣe ẹni ní baba, à fi ìyànjú ṣe bí àgbà.
Literal: Bí Ọlọ́run ò ṣe ẹni ní baba if God has-not made one a-father à fi ìyànjú ṣe bí àgbà one uses effort to-act like an-elder.
Idiomatic: If God does not make one a father, one strives to act like an elder. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Where standing has not been granted to you, conduct yourself so as to deserve it.
Used when: Said to and about people without formal position who nonetheless behave responsibly .
Notes: Baba here is the position of a father of a household, with the authority attaching to it, and the proverb accepts that the position is not in the person's gift while insisting the conduct is. Owomoyela's note reads it as acting responsibly despite having no influence .
67. Bí ọmọdé ńlérí bébé, tí kò ní baba, ti baba là ńṣe.
Literal: Bí ọmọdé ńlérí bébé if a-child brags profusely tí kò ní baba and has-no father ti baba là ńṣe it-is-the-father's-part one plays.
Idiomatic: If a child brags a great deal, but has no father, one acts the part of a father. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: A fatherless child's excesses call for correction from the community rather than punishment.
Used when: Said to restrain someone about to deal harshly with an orphan .
Notes: The proverb assigns the vacant paternal role to whoever is present, which is a direct statement of collective responsibility for children without a household head. It should be read against entry 68, which describes the same child's vulnerability from the other side.
68. Ọmọ tí ò ní baba kì í jìjà ẹ̀bi.
Literal: Ọmọ tí ò ní baba a-child who has-no father kì í jìjà ẹ̀bi does-not fight a-fight-of-guilt.
Idiomatic: A fatherless child should not engage in an unjust fight. (Owomoyela)
Meaning: Without a family to back you, you cannot afford to be in the wrong.
Used when: Said as caution to anyone without protection who is picking a quarrel .
Notes: Ìjà ẹ̀bi is a fight in which one is at fault, as against ìjà òtítọ́, a fight in the right, and the distinction is the whole content of the proverb: the fatherless child may fight when right and cannot when wrong. Owomoyela's note generalises to never provoking trouble without strong backers . The proverb is unsentimental evidence that in practice justice depended on lineage support.
Reading these proverbs
Three observations specific to this theme.
The proverbs treat the household as a legal person. It incurs debts, it is shamed, it is answerable for what its juniors do, and it can be defended or dissipated. Entries 6, 8, 39 and 68 all assume this without arguing for it, which is the surest sign that it was the ordinary frame rather than a claim anyone needed to make.
The obligations run upward as well as downward. It is easy to read a proverb corpus about family as straightforwardly gerontocratic, and Yorùbá òwe do enforce deference, but entries 18, 19, 29 and 15 all constrain the senior party, and entry 29 says explicitly that a title is a courtesy rather than a possession. The relevant proverbs on elders are collected in file 14.
Provenance needs care in this theme more than most. Family sentiment is precisely the area in which biblical proverbs have naturalised into Yorùbá speech over a century and a half of Christian literacy, and entry 21 is flagged for exactly that reason. Owomoyela's collection does not sort indigenous from borrowed items, and this corpus does not pretend to be able to do so item by item.