What does the word "Igbo" mean ?

[Emeka Ofobike]

Eric:

You may wish to wait till the end of the work day before doing what I am
about to suggest. Some of what you'll find may ruin your day; it did mine
when I first saw it!!

Here goes:

Do a search on the word "IGBO" using the ALTAVISTA search engine.

Emeka.

At 10:21 AM 1/13/97 -0500, Eric Kalu wrote:
>Ndi Igbo:
>
>This is not an attempt to raise issues of origin of ndi Igbo (ethno-history)
>as much as it is a quest to understand the Igbo language. I have been trying
>(for a long time now) to understand the full meaning of the word "IGBO". I have
>not been successful to date - could igbo be short for igbochi (to prevent -
>prevent what from what ? .....igbochi inwe eze ?). My problem is that like
>the word "Igbo", I find many other place names hard to decifer - my clan name
>is another example - Item. However, closer to the village level or the
compound,
>it is easy to understand what is being referred to - my village - Amaokwe -
>makes Igbo sense as well as Umuahia, Uzuakoli, Enuugwu, Awka (ookagbue)etc.
>
>Could those of you who are versed in Igbo language throw more light on what
>Igbo means ? That may be a beginning for understanding some forgotten history
>and origin of the Igbo race.
>
>I am listening.
>
>mazi egwu kalu
>
>

[Eric Kalu]

[Eric Kalu]

Emeka:

My question is serious and could be better answered by people who understand the
nuances of the language - Igbo language I mean. Ofcourse, I did check what you
suggested - though with a different search engine - to be frank, I was not
bothered by those other things that go by "I-G-B-O" acronym. The reason is
simply b/c I understand that, "those things" aren't referring to my race !

In any case, I am hoping that someone in our midst can give us a clue to what
"igbo" means in Igbo language. The basis of this enquiry is that the Igbos, like
most other people, give names to things, individuals, villages etc that have
some meaning. E.g., Emeka (from Chukwuemeka), Umuahia - Ahia's children
(or offsprings). Is it possible that that "Igbo" does not have a meaning in
any of the Igbo dialects ? I am wondering aloud now.

mazi egwu

>
> Eric:
>
> You may wish to wait till the end of the work day before doing what I am
> about to suggest. Some of what you'll find may ruin your day; it did mine
> when I first saw it!!
>
> Here goes:
>
> Do a search on the word "IGBO" using the ALTAVISTA search engine.
>
> Emeka.
>
>
> At 10:21 AM 1/13/97 -0500, Eric Kalu wrote:

[Chinyeaka Emmanuel Okoli]

IGBO, =Igbo nkpa nwanne
IGBO, =Igbochi ajo ihe na ajo omume
IGBO, =Igbochi ndi iro na ndi nmegbu
IGBO, =Igbochibi oke
IGBO, =Chosen to mean protection from oppression. Whatever
happened to us in 1966 may have happened earlier in history. Like
we did during the wicked pogrom, we all ran home to a place of
protection, BIAFRA or IGBO, an enclave of protection!

Let the search continue.

Mazi Kaku wrote:

>..... Awka (ookagbue)

> mazi egwu kalu
>

AWKA OBODOM! OOKAGBUE? Sounds true!
Odaba ejegh Awka, ejegh Awka, anyi abanye n'ubi oka, makana Awka
na oka abugolu ofu!

Chinyeaka.

[Chiji]

Maazi Egwu: i doubt the "seriousness" of any answer that may attend to
your questions. it is very uncommon for any group of people to choose
their primordial name. rather, we have cases of the group's generations
attempting to explain how such a name came about. in the igbo situation,
i personally do not know the "center" of "igboland" is, and so how would
one be able to pick out the core group who contrived the name? it's even
more problematic when we consider the wider related issues of continental
migrations, and the evolution or languages.

on Igbo, actually, beside its noun form, i haven't heard any other form of
the word, that is, with similar tonality on the two vowel sounds in it.
so for me, outside of being a proper noun (by which its lexical items are
not really required to have semantic value in themselves), it has no
meaning.

An aside. sometime in the eighties, something happened in the village of
Ezebudele (yep, you got it right, "the Vulture is King") in Asa area of
Ukwa. now, that's an example of a proper noun whose lexical items equally
possess meaning in themselves. Anyway, the people just couldn't continue
explaining why their land had to have such rather wierd (to put it
slightly) name. well, during one of the christmases when they were sure
most of the sons and daughters of the land would be home, they made in the
village square, and they changed it. now, i no longer remember what they
changed it to, Umuchi (Children of Chi) or something on the pious side.
But they did change it.

nwa akoma