Yorùbá glossary

The glossary

The Ìtùnú Edit

Yorùbá at home

The words that keep turning up across the Edit, kept in one place. Each one is here because a piece was written about it, and each links back to that piece.

Why the marks matter

Yorùbá is a tonal language, and the marks are the tones. The grave (ù) is a low tone, the acute (ú) is high, and a vowel with no mark sits between them. Say Ìtùnú with the pitch falling and then rising like that and you have said it; flatten the marks and you have said a different word, or none.

The dot beneath ọ, ẹ and ṣ is not an accent. It makes a different letter with a different sound: ọ is the o in lot, o is the o in go; ẹ is the e in bed; ṣ is sh. So Ọ̀nà and Ona are not one word written two ways. That is why the marks are kept everywhere on this site, including where they are hard to type.

Ìtùnú

To calm the mind.

The name of the house, and a name before that. Victoria was given it by her maternal grandmother at birth, as comfort to the family after her maternal grandfather died.

The story behind the name
Where the word lives
Ìtùrá

To relax the body.

It names the house whose scents are built for the moment you arrive somewhere and put the day down.

The word is Ìtùrá
Where the word lives
Ìtọ́jú

To tend, to care for.

The bright house. Cut fruit, open windows, morning. It names the scents built for tending a room rather than retreating into one.

Ìtọ́jú Spa
Where the word lives
Ọ̀nà

Direction.

The tools. A trimmer, a snuffer and a wick aligner: objects whose whole purpose is to direct a flame, which is a better word for them than accessories.

The Ọ̀nà Experience
Where the word lives
Orúkọ rere sàn ju wúrà àti fàdákà lọ

A good name is more precious than silver and gold.

A proverb, and the turn the piece rests on: a name is not a gift someone hands you and can withhold. It is something you keep proving true, whether or not anyone says it correctly.

The River and Her Name