Convergence: English and Nigerian Languages

Ozo-mekuri Ndimele

Published by African Books Collective

Ndimele, Ozo-mekuri.
Convergence: English and Nigerian Languages: A Festschrift for Munzali A. Jibril.
African Books Collective, 2016.
Project MUSE. muse.jhu.edu/book/46367.

For additional information about this book

https://muse.jhu.edu/book/46367

[ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ]
 The Nigerian Linguists Festschrift Series No. 5 (pp. 263-268)

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Department of Arts & Social Science Education, Faculty of Education, University of Lagos,
Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria
e-mail: cohiri@yahoo.com

The paper provides linguistic evidence to the debate on whether the Igbo are of oriental
(Hebrew) origin or are a Negro (African) people. It traces the term “1GL ,JER” (Igbo people)
to two Benue-Congo (former Kwa) roots, *QWX and *-R, both of which mean ‘person’.
These roots are extant in many languages of the Niger-Benue confluence area of Nigeria,
such as Reshe (Kebbi/Niger States), Kuteb (Taraba State), Jarawa, (Bauchi State), Bete and
Bokyi (Cross River State). The roots are also found in some Cameroonian languages such as
Bamvele and in Bantu (South Africa). The existence of these roots in many Nigerian and
other sub-Sahara African languages seems to support the thesis that the Igbo are part of a
large band of Negro African people that entered present day Nigeria from the eastern middle
belt flanks and then spread inwards, along the Niger-Benue confluence. However, the origin
of some striking cultural resemblances between the Igbo and Hebrews on which the oriental
hypothesis is often hinged still needs to be investigated.

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For close to a century now, there has been debate regarding the origins of the Igbo of South-
East Nigeria. To many authors and ordinary Igbo people, the Igbo are one of the lost tribes of
Israel, thus, a Hebrew people. Other authors and researchers, on the other hand, believe that
the origin of the Igbos cannot be considered in isolation of the origins of other peoples of
Nigeria. They affirm that historical, linguistic and archaeological studies of the Igbo and
some other Nigerian peoples suggest that the Igbo share a common Negro African ancestry
with these other groups.
This paper provides linguistic evidence to the debate on Igbo origins. It will examine, in
turn, the two popular theories about the origin of the Igbo, viz.: the Oriental hypothesis and
the Negro hypothesis. The paper will then draw its own conclusions based on the evidence
proffered.

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The oriental hypothesis has been the oldest and most persistent theory of Igbo origins.
Afigbo (1975:29) says many Igbos believe they are of Hebrew origin, being one of the lost
tribes of Israel. In this, they are in accord with Olaudah Equiano, an 18th century freed Igbo
slave in London who expressed similar views in his autobiography (1794:pp25-28). Equiano
based his thesis on similarities in cultural practices between the Igbos and Jews, such as
practice of circumcision, naming of children after some special event or experience,
seclusion and purification of women after childbirth, etc. Afigbo adds that much later, some
British writers such as Basden (1912) and Jeffreys (1946), while not saying that the Igbos
were of oriental origin, nevertheless asserted that the Igbo must have come under the impact

 Convergence: English & Nigerian Languages
 
of either the ancient Egyptians or the Jews. Evidence for this included certain constructions
found in Igbo names, the deep religious nature of the Igbos, Igbo sun worship, etc.
In recent times, the notion that Igbos are of Hebrew origin has been given a new fillip by
authors such as Alaezi (2002). Alaezi affirms that Igbos are one of the lost tribes of Israel.
His evidence includes similarities between many Igbo names and traditions and Hebrew ones;
the discovery of Hebrew writing on the floor of the ancient palace of Eze Nri in Aguleri,
Anambra State of Nigeria; an archaeological British discovery at Agulu in Anambra State in
about 1917, of a Star of King David in solid bronze about 500 feet below the soil, etc. For
many ordinary Igbos, however, their ‘evidence’ for a Jewish origin is the similar fate of hate
and pogrom which Jews have suffered in history, across space and time, and which Igbos
feel they have been suffering in Nigeria, and have continued to do so, even long after the
deaths and devastations of the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970.

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Afigbo (2000) says that advances in research in the areas of linguistics, archaeology,
anthropology, history, geography and allied disciplines have provided evidence that the Igbo
are a Negro people, originating in Africa, somewhere south of the latitude of Arselam and
Khartoum. Members of this racial stock speak languages, which fall into a language family
known as the Niger-Congo family. This large family has a sub-family known as the Kwa into
which fall most of the languages in West Africa, including most of those in southern Nigeria,
e.g. Igbo, Yoruba, Edo, Igala, Idoma, etc. The speakers of this ancestral language, proto-Kwa,
originated in the Niger-Benue confluence area and subsequently dispersed to the other parts
of West Africa occupied by their descendants. Thus, the Igbo originated from, or as one of
the descendants of, those proto-Kwa speakers who occupied the area of present day Southern
Nigeria known as Igbo land and its environs.

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The notion that many languages in Nigeria and indeed, across West and Southern Africa are
genetically related has long been held in linguistic quarters. Koelle (1854) noted the
prevalence of many lexical items with similar sounds and meanings across different
languages spoken by freed African slaves in Sierra-Leone. He then hypothesized that these
languages were genetically related. About a century later, Greenberg (1955 and 1963) noted
not only lexical, but also morphological similarities in many African languages. Greenberg
then classified African languages into six broad families – Niger-Congo, Afro-Asiatic,
Khoisan, Chari-Nile, Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Kordofanian. He further subdivided Niger-
Congo under six broad subfamilies – West Atlantic, Mande, Gur, Kwa, Benue-Congo and
Adamawa-Eastern. Under Kwa were listed some Liberian, Ghanaian, Togolese and other
West African languages, alongside such Nigerian languages as Yoruba, Igala, Nupe, Gbari,
Igbira, Bini, Idoma, Igala, Igbo and . Under Benue-Congo, Greenberg (1963) also listed
many Nigerian Middle-Belt languages such as Kambari, Kamuku, Reshe, Afusare, Kaje,
Birom, Tiv and Jukun, alongside some southern Nigeria languages such as Boki, Ibibio, Efik,
Andoni, Ogoni (Kana), and even going down southern Africa to include Bantu. Greenberg’s
Igbo Origins & the Niger-Benue Confluence Theory 
 
Niger-Congo family has since been modified, first by Bennett and Sterk (1977), then by
Schadeberg (1986), and by Williamson (1989) resulting into the merger of Greenberg’s
Eastern Kwa and Benue-Congo into a (New) Benue-Congo sub-family. By implication, these
researches, which posit a common genetic relationship across these West and Southern
African languages, are also saying that their speakers must have had a common ancestry.
With particular reference to the Igbo, this paper tenders below two sets of linguistic
evidence, which suggest that the Igbo share a common ancestry with some other Negro-
African peoples.

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The term Ndiigbo, ‘Igbo people’ is made up of two words: ‘QGL' and ‘,JER’. The meaning of
the word ‘Igbo’ is often controversial, being attributed to various roots and sources.

Example:
-Ibo/Heebo = a contraction of the word ‘Hebrew’
-ìgbó = ‘bush’, thus “forest dwellers”
-gbó = ‘old/ancient’, thus “ancient/earlier people”

In linguistic parlance, however, both ‘QGL’ and ‘,JER’ can be traced to old Benue-Congo
(former Kwa) roots. Thus, ‘QGL’ (Igbo dialectal variants QGX/QGH) is cognate with a Benue-
Congo root ‘QWX’ meaning “person”. It is suggested here that the voicing difference between
‘QGL’ and ‘QWX’ reflects the difference in voicing of consonants between those of Igbo and
other West Benue-Congo languages and those of Lower Cross, Bantu and other East Benue-
Congo languages. In an earlier study, Ohiri-Aniche (2004) posited that voicing contrast could
well constitute an important distinguishing feature between East and West Benue-Congo
languages. With regard to the term ‘,JER’, this can also be traced to a Benue-Congo root,
which shows up variously in many West African languages as -ER, -R, etc., also meaning
‘person/people’. It would thus appear that the term ‘1GLLJER’ rightly means “Igbo people”,
based on its Benue-Congo roots. Table 1 below exemplifies some of these roots.

Table 1: Comparative List of words meaning ‘person’, ‘man’ in some Benue-Congo

Languages 

SPECIFIC GLOSS LANGUAGE WHERE SPOKEN WORD
Some person Bantu South Africa ntò
Man Mbonge Kumba,West Cameroun mô-t/bâ-tò
Person Bamvele East Cameroun mùt/bòt
Person Kamuku Niger State, Nigeria bo-tɔ̀
Person Bankala Bauchi, Nigeria ò
Person Reshe Kebbi/Niger States of Nigeria undo
Person Kuteb Taraba State, Nigeria unde/a-
Person Bete Cross River State, Nigeria ùndì/bε-
Person Jarawa Bauchi, Nigeria bo
Person Bokyi (Erwe dialect) Cross River State, Nigeria ònì/bò

 Convergence: English & Nigerian Languages
 
People Igbo South East Nigeria ndi/ndu/nde/Igbo

(Adapted from Williamson, 1973

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Basic vocabulary (as opposed to culture words) refers to a diagnostic list of words used by
linguists in the classification of languages. This list of some 100 items as discussed in
Swadesh (1955, 1959) contains words which express things basic to human existence such as
body parts, human functions, flora and fauna, natural phenomenon and lower numerals.
Examples of basic vocabulary items are man, woman, child, head, eyes, nose, blood, bone,
tree, animal, water, sun, seed, leaf, eat, drink, etc. It is deemed that these items are basic to
human existence anywhere in the world and as such, all languages must have words for them.
Thus, whenever similar words for these basic vocabulary items are found across languages, it
is deemed as evidence that the languages must have been one at a point in time, rather than
that the words were borrowed from one language into the other. On the other hand, when
similar culture words such as buy, sell, cloth, vehicle, etc., are found across languages, this is
viewed as possible borrowings from one language into the other.
Table 2 below presents some basic vocabulary items, which show similarity in sounds
and meanings across Igbo and some other Nigerian languages of the (New) Benue-Congo
sub-family. This is regarded as evidence of a genetic relationship across these languages.

Table 2: Comparative List of Words in Some Benue–Congo Languages of Nigeria

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Yoruba Oyo ọmọ awon/ahon eti je ku ẹta erin
Igala Kogi ọma imalu eti je kwu/ku ẹta ele
Edo Edo ọmọ/obvi aravwe ehon re ghu eha ene
Degema Rivers omo/imo /a- usou/á- i wu isai ini
Urhobo Delta omo erevwe orho re ghwu erha ene
Igbo Imo ụmụ/nwa ire nti ri nwu atọ anọ
Bokyi C. River wan kà-rH/bà bɔ-tɔŋ/a- di - è-tʃH ènì
Nupe Niger zakangi gintara tukpa gi ekun guta guni
=corpse
Efik C.Rivers eyen edeme utong di/dia kpa ita inang
Tiv Benue nwa nombor ato/i-tɔɣ já kpe/kpue tar nyin
Kaje Kaduna ka-won dí-ryám/à- ya kwu tat nai
Jukun Taraba nwu lee atong ji /zon wu sara yena
(Kuteb)
Jarawa Bauchi mun las - li wu ta:t yin
Arigidi
(Akoko) Ondo unwo ere oto je kun ida inyee
Kamuku Niger bo:o aryin atobi mo lewa mo itato inaʃi
= I eat u:ɔ
= 1 die
Reshe Niger/ u-bi/ ri-lume/a- - (tama) u – wi tátsɔ la-naʃH
Kebbi bá-bi
Igbo Origins & the Niger-Benue Confluence Theory 
 
Others PNC-bi PBC-lemi PB tu/toŋ PB-dí- PB-kụ΄- B-tátù B-nàyị΄

(Adapted from Ohiri-Aniche, 2001)

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PNC = Proto-Niger-Congo
PBC = Proto-Benue-Congo
PB = Proto-Bantu
B = Bantu

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This paper has shown that the Igbo language shares some basic vocabulary items with many
other Nigerian languages of the (New) Benue-Congo sub-family. In particular, it has traced
the roots of the term ‘1GL ,JER’ meaning ‘Igbo people’ to many languages of the Middle
Belt and the Niger-Benue confluence areas of Nigeria, as well as in some Southwestern and
Southern African countries. The paper, therefore, concludes that the evidence supports the
thesis that the Igbo are part of a large band of Negro African people who entered present day
Nigeria from the eastern middle belt flanks and then spread inwards, along the Niger-Benue
confluence. The paper, nevertheless, acknowledges that there are some interesting cultural
resemblances between the Igbo and Hebrews. This is the plank on which is often hinged the
claims of the Igbo to a Hebrew origin. The paper then suggests that these cultural
resemblances could be a topic for future research.


 Convergence: English & Nigerian Languages
 
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