The Fading History Of Edo People.

By Orobosa Culture Atkins

Over the ages, lot of words and pronunciations have been corrupted by the native speakers due to the inevitable contact and mixture with other communities.  In the case of the Edo People, a lot has happened. Edo as a Kingdom practiced a rulership system where the Oba never wanted the language to be spoken by just anybody but the Edos, so he practiced an indirect rulership system. Whenever he captured any community, clan,village or settlement. He appoints one of his own to rule over them, collect homage and administer the will of the crown (The Oba of Benin) to the captured or the newly created land. Because the Oba usually sends his own people along with their wives and aids, they always found comfort in their new abode, so they never develop any interest to forcefully change the language they met with the people because they had a handful of people that came with them from Benin that they could always talk with.  The people the Oba has captured quickly find ways to communicate with their new ruler either by demonstration or by saying it in their own language repeatedly till the new ruler understands the word they were trying to say.  Benin rulers employed that means too when trying to give orders and over the years, Benin words were gradually corrupted naturally because the Binis were saying it the way their subjects will understand.

These new rulers settled as royals in their new abode, because they were treated as kings, they oversaw everything ranging from land, trade, farming, tributes, fines, taxes even up to traditional rites. Any land the Oba Captured, he turned to his investment but allowed them to speak their language, he was kind enough not to take away the language of his captives. The new Benin rulers married amongst these people and had children, they farmed and hunted in these lands happily and they sent tributes to the Oba of Benin as at and when due. Amongst such places where this happened was (Agba corrupted and been spoken today as Agbor, and Ogho now corrupted as Owo, etc. Uhrobo, etc.) Initially, when these de facto rulers of the Oba dies, they were taken to Benin for burials because they were the children of Igodomigodo only on a foreign mission as Ambassadors but over the years as generations passed and they were more entrenched, things began to change.

Generations have passed, the children of the original rulers sent by the Oba have died, their aids, their wives had also died and a new breed of their offspring’s has emerged, naturally things will change. The new generation will feel more at home in their place of birth, even though they know their root which is Benin, but it will only be logical for a child born in a place to be more attached to that place than a faraway kingdom that he or she was told off by his or her parents, we may sight examples with kids born today in Europe, Americas, Asia and all over, they just feel more at home in their places of birth and most never return to the country of their parents after their death.  As all these happened, the Edo Language was gradually eroding, the culture, traditions and ways that their fathers brought from Benin was fast dying away for they must adapt to their immediate environment.  Though certain words were still spoken within the rulership domain but many which the people spoke as they heard it from their rulers were corrupted as they spoke it all to please their rulers, when the people are alone, they say it as they have always did but whenever they come in contact with their rulers in his household, they speak or say it in the corrupted form for that was the best they could do.

When Prince Ekaladerhan was banished from Benin Kingdom into a strange land where he expressed himself as “Ilefe,” (which means I ran into a land of safety).  Although he named the place” Uhe,” the people who were surprised to see him, started calling the place ILE FE, for that was the dramatic description and remembrance they could keep, till date, that very domain or jurisdiction still has its original meaning, but the pronunciation has been corrupted to become Ile Ife.  The original meaning of Ile Ife is only known to the royals who have access to the Edo history.

It is very natural for language to lose its original touches, even in this modern days, a lot of Latin words have been corrupted and spoken in German and later corrupted and spoken in English. Words like MADAME which is of French origin are called Madam in English today.  In this context, someone maybe inclined to ask “who owns the right to that word?”  Is it the original owners or the ones that corrupted the word and uses it on a daily basis today?  We shall try to compile some very corrupted words in Edo language in this work.

1. ILE FE meaning I have ran to safety has been corrupted to Ile-ife
2. Omonoyan, which is a popular way of referring to a last born in Edo language, has been corrupted to a different pronounciation as “Oranmiyan” in Yoruba land.
3. Izoduwa, Oduwa, Obagioduwa which now pronounced by the Yorubas as ODUDUWA. Oduduwa has no meaning whatsoever in the Yoruba language.
4. Ogho and Ute: Ogho means Respect in Edo language, but is now pronounced as Owo in Yoruba language.  Again, Owo has no meaning in Yoruba language.  Ogho is actually a brother to UTE and they both were sent to the outposts to manage newly conquered territories for the Oba of Benin.  Ute settled at a place now called UTE, and Ogho moved further out west and settled at a place called Ogho, which the Yorubas now pronounced as OWO.
5. Agenobode: Agenobode is settlement in the outpost to the North of Benin Kingdom.  The Obas warriors stationed there to ward off any form of encroachment into Benin Kingdom.  As time progressed, the pronunciation became Agenebode.
6. Agege: A shrine where most of the Cutlasses and Swords used in fighting by the Benin warriors  were kept. It was located in the general vicinity of Eko, which was the main war camp for Benin Soldiers.  As time progressed, the pronunciation was corrupted as Agege and till date it is referred to as Agege.
7. Oba nede : It was later corrupted to obalende among the Yourbas.

source: http://www.voltagepost.com/the-fading-history-of-the-benin-people/