Skip to main content

Origin and meaning of Edo words

Ewuare

the first Bini warrior king, was himself forced into exile as a young prince and nearly would not have ascended the Benin throne.  With death penalty hanging on his head as a result of some misdemeanor, he fled into the woods although regularly, secretly visiting the city of Benin at night.

The elders (Edionisen) heard about his secret visits and set a trap to capture and kill him.  Just as he was about to be caught, he escaped to the home of Ogieva Nomuekpo, who hid him in a well covered on top with leaves.  Ogieva then went to invite the elders to come and arrest Prince Ogun as he was called then.

While Ogieva was on his way to call the elders, Edo, the head servant of Ogieva's household alerted Prince Ogun about his master's diabolical plan and helped the prince to escape.  Ogieva returned with the elders to find that he had been betrayed and he severely punished Edo for this.

After several years in the bush, Prince Ogun began to grow weary of his vagabond life and accepted to be crowned Oba Ewuare of Ubini land around the mid 15th century AD.  The father's throne had been vacant for a while then and he was the oldest heir.

On the throne, one of his first acts was to reward Edo with many valuable gifts.  After Edo's death, he bought his corpse from Ogieva and buried it at the entrance to the palace's inner tower.  Then he decreed that the land of Ubini should henceforth be known and called Edo.  This was later expanded to Edo O'Evho Ahire, meaning Edo the city of love, in appreciation of Edo's love that saved young Prince Ogun's life and gave Benin her greatest king.

Odionwere

Odionwere is the oldest male person at any time in Edo society. The elders are known as Owere. The oldest among the Owere is called Odionwere. The word Odion means senior- i.e Odion + Owere = Odionwere. Odionwere are the head of each community in Edo land.

Agenibode

People in Agenibode were the guards of the Benin Royal troops during the Idah war. Agenibode means Ago nibode or "Camp of the guard".
 
Esekhurhe

According to traditional history, Esekhurhe was the second son of Ihama who at that time was living at Idumwun Ihogbe which was a stone throw from Usama the original palace of prince Oronmiyan. Usama palace is behind the inner most moat. It was the opposition of Chief Ogieamié that forced the Uzama {The seven king makers} to reside behine the moat which was not a part of the city at that time.
It was Oba Ewedo {1255 AD} that moved the palace from Usama to the present place The seasons, he did not want to stay in the mist of the Uzama and he wanted to have full control of the City.After arriving at the palace in Benin City he did not like the ancestral staff of the Oba to remain with Ihama.The Old Ihama then was always holding the Oba to ransom by feeling reluctance to come and perform his sacred duty in the city when summoned to do so and to perform the rituals at the ancestral shrine {Erinmwindu}. At the Oba's request Ihama sent his second son whose mother was the daughter of Ólótón a blood relation of Oronmiyan to live in benin City to perform on behalf of Ihama the ritual ceremonies
Oba Éwédo thereafter bestowed the Esekhurhe tile on the new priest who in the course of time took over the duties of Ihama. This is the origin of the two Ihogbe group one living in Benin City and the Other living outside the City.

Sokponba Road

During the 1897 British Expedition. During the siege on Benin City It is say Chief Asoro ably defended the spot where his statue now stands He said "no other person dare pass this road unless the Oba "{SOKPON OBA}". It is this statement which has been corrupted to become SAKPONBA. The present SOKPONBA village and SAPONBA Road derive their names from Chief Asoro's statement
Ondo State, Akotogbo,Ikalen, Osemawe title
Prince Osawe ascended the throne with the title Oba Esigie. After the power struggle between him and his brother Arhuanran  {Goliath type stature} the powerful ruler of Udo town some kilometers outside Benin City.
Concerned about the transgression by his brother Aruanran against his monarchial authority launch a full-scale war on Udo one of the bloodiest war in Benin history The battle was fought and won by Oba Esigie.
Arhuanran drowned himself in Lake Odighi N’Udo.

Chief Osemwughe the Iyase of Udo took arm again, against the monarchial authority to avenge the defeat and the death of Arhuanran.
Oba Esigie launch a war on Udo once again .Udo was destroyed chief Osemwughe and his rebel armies fled. West of Benin kingdom now part of Yoruba land.
Oba Esigie determined to put an end to Udo rebellion once and for all. Sent royal troops under the command of Odobo and Aile to pursue them in the process the Benin royal army builds military camps {Eko} along the way some of these camps {Eko} are now towns in Yoruba land.
Some of the Camps are camp Odobo {Eko-Odobo} name after general Odobo  contracted  into Akotogboand camp Ikalo {Eko-Aile}name after general Aile was contracted  to Ikale.
Osemwughe and his militants gave themselves up; when they could not face the war machines of the Benin royal troops much longer.They were later given a royal pardons by Oba Esigie  but decided not to return to Udo. chief  Osemwughe  and his party were called Emma n’ Udo {the Udo deserters} which was later contracted to Ondo and  the leader of the militants  chief  Osemwughe was mispronounced Osemawe a title by which all Ondo monarchs are now know.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Benin Traditional Fast Food

In retrospect and till date, we had varieties of fast foods. These fast foods are called “Ekusun” which is seasonal and made from fresh maize “moin-moin” made from beans. “Akasan” made from strong-corn. “Emieki” made from plantain flour and beans etc all wrapped up in fresh leaves. The leaves are capable of protecting these foods without loosing taste. It is a common scenario to find young boys, girls and mature ladies hawking these food products in the streets and market places across the metropolice. These are health foods in their natural state devoid of excessive sugar which is the primary cause of diabetes, excessive salt which act as a booster to hypertension and animal fats which also accelerate collesterol consumption in human diet. But what we see these days are youths patronizing refined fast foods that contain a lot of sugar, excessive salt and animal fats which is detrimental to human health in our modern fast foods centers. However, at home or bukateria, the average Be
Post a Comment
Read more

Talking Musical Instruments Of Edo Culture

Talking Musical Instruments lie in the tonal quality of most languages, in the fact that the instrument reproduces the tones, stresses and numbers of syllables in the various utterances. Talking instruments do not use a kind of morse system and the talk has often attracted the attention of visitors and observers. Edo talking musical instruments give performers and listeners the opportunity to express and experience a variety of emotions. Some of which are hostility, excitement, psychological relief and to increase dramatic tension at points of climax, but their blasts also express the excitement of the adversaries and hostility. It was said that the functions of music concern the reasons for its employment and particularly the broader purpose which it serves and among the several functions are those of emotional expression, entertainment, communication, symbolic representation, enforcing conformity to social norms, validation of social institution and religious rites. The general p
Post a Comment
Read more

BENIN CUSTOMARY LAW OF SUCCESSION 

Written by Efe Sophia Osamuede (Mrs)      A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ADVENT OF IGIOGBE SUCCESSION The Binis, an ethnic tribe in Nigeria are a people with uniquely rich culture and traditional heritage they occupy the south Midwestern part of the country, now known as Edo state. They were nicked- name “Ubini” by the Yorubas who played a domineering role in the kingdom during their crisis period which occurred after the exit of the Ogiso’s dynasty; especially as it relates to Eweka I, the first Oba of Benin kingdom. “ubin” was later corrupted to Bini, by which the people are still called today . Otherwise, the people recognize themselves as the Edo People. The Bini’s were renamed Edo people from the time of Oba Ewuare the Great. History has it that, the people and their language was re- named Edo as a result of a boy called Edo who was killed in the process of sparing prince Ogun’s life in his struggle of taking his rightful position as the crown prince of the kingdom. Prince Ogun was e
Post a Comment
Read more