THE ENGLISH WORD FOR 'KOKORO; - PLEASE HELP

[Julius Fakinlede]

Ladies and gentlemen,

In trying to write a page for the Yoruba Science and Technology Encyvlopedia - yoruba-scipedia.wikidot.com - I am running into a major difficulty over the English translation of the word 'kokoro.'

Ordinarily, you ask a kid about the Yoruba word for 'insect', and you instantly get the answer, kokoro. But then there are many animals which are not insects that the Yorubas also call 'kokoro;' For example, a centipede can be called that name. Generally all crawling bugs will be referred to as kokoro. And this is where my problem lies.

The closest scientific term that I can find for kokoro in ARTHROPOD. This word encompasses all insects, millipedes, centipedes, spiders, and many of the little creatures that make our lives miserable in some way. However, it also has bigger animals in its fold. Things like crabs, lobsters, scorpions, etc. Definitely, a Yoruba person will not refer these animals as kokoro - or will they?

It would therefore mean that kokoro's belongs to a subgroup of the arthropods.

Now my question, What would be a good translation for Arthropods in Yoruba?

And what would be an English word that precisely describes kokoro?

Please help

FAKINLEDE

FACILITATOR: YORUBA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ENCYCLOPEDIA

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Dear Sir,

You have enough here to define Kokoro.  No Yoruba word will have a perfect fit with an English one.  They will have different connotations and denotations.  Do not forget to add that it is also a euphemism for the penis when a child is a toddler!

Cheers.

IBK

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

(+2348061276622)
ibk...@gmail.com

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[Michael Afolayan]

Alagba Fakinlede:

While I cannot say with certainty how to grapple with the matter you raised, I think the generic words "bug" and "Insect" would be quite close to the notion of of the Yoruba "Kokoro." As to the word "Anthropod," I am not sure if the Yoruba have a name for that special category. I wonder if they would fall under the "Afayafa" group (the crawlers). If they do, then they'd be sharing the same descriptors with creatures like snakes, lizards, etc., and that exasperates the dilemma. 

Unrelated to this inquiry is an argument I have proferred quite often but with no success. I felt the word "Kokoro" seems to be a derivation of the word "Cocroach." My argument is both phonological and anthropological. Roaches are known to be among the oldest in human history of existence and the two words sound unbelievably alike.

Just my view . . .

Michael O. Afolayan

From the Land of Lincoln 

[Adeniran Adeboye]

E nle nbeun o,

We also use the word kokoro for germs and microbes. There is a form of facial deformation that matures into swollen skin perforations. The Yoruba refer to a sufferer of this condition by saying "kokoro je oju re."

Of course, IBK is right about the use of the word euphemistically. A more abstract example is when we refer to a covetous person by saying "o ni kokoro l'oju".

Cheers,

Adeniran Adeboye

Sent from my iPhone

[Ayotunde Bewaji]

Dear all,

While am not a linguist, philologist, etymologist or anthropologist, I wish to suggest that taking words, names, or concepts in isolation may be defeatist. The Yoruba language is one of the richest of languages, no doubt, and often there may be more than one word for an object, or one word for many concepts.

With regard to kokoro, my inclination does not square with all I have read, even though not in disagreement with them either. For example, when it is said that "o jo bi kokoro", the most clear idea is the bug, olobounboun. But then there is a different word for insects of different varieties. For example, aayan for cockroach, eera for ants, and within the family of ants, there are ikamudu, tanpepe, jejere, afopina, tanisanko, etc.

I wonder what we would call akeekee. I just wish that some of the things we are attempting here can be properly done, so that the didactic and pedagogic values may be solid. We are in a transition stage where investment and pooling of resources certainly is the way to consolidate on the achievements of the orthographers of yesteryears and days. Yoruba is such a beautiful language, but it needs investment to continue to be beautiful.

Ire ni o.

Tunde.

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Dear Brother Afolayan,

Your theory of the origin of Kokoro is very interesting.  If the Missionaries of the period of Samuel Ajayi Crowther who translated the Bible into Yoruba could also craft the ditty:

"Yi ese re si apa kan,

Mase pa kokoro ni.

Kokoro ti iwo ko le da,

Olorun lo le da"

The word Kokoro must predate the arrival of English on our Yoruba shores.  We have different words for ants like Ikaka, ikamudu, eera, Ikan (Ikan nla bi ori ragajigi) tani pepe and so on and so forth.  All these predate the arrival of the language of the English on our shores.  The Yoruba word for cockroach is aayan, and that shows there was no need to borrow it from the English word for cockroach.

Just my own view too.

Cheers.

IBK

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

(+2348061276622)
ibk...@gmail.com

[Julius Fakinlede]

Kokoro from cockroach? An interesting idea indeed. However, could it be the other way round? It seems more plausible to me that kokoro derives from the fusing of two words 'ko kuro', something that keeps bugging you and would not leave. The Spanish word from which the English comes is la cucaracha. An etymological search for this word yields very little. In which case the word may have been lifted from a language that is not familial with European languages.

Now why could the word not have derived from Yoruba? After all, there is no reason why we can not be the originators of words that the Europeans use even if the subject of discussion is not that attractive.

FAKINLEDE

[Michael Afolayan]

We are at the level of speculation. Anything and everything could be true and could be wrong. Let's keep seeking; it's the ultimate goal of education. E se o!

MOA

Sent from my iPhone