Oyibo

Òyìnbó is a Yoruba word used to refer to white people. The word is popular in Nigeria among other groups as well in a number of minor variations. ''Òyìnbó'' is generally understood by most Nigerians and many Africans due to popularity of Nollywood and Nigerian pop culture.

The word is coined from the Yoruba translation of “peeled skin,” "lightened," or “skinless,” which translates “yin” – to scratch, and “bo” – to off/peel/lightened. the "O" starting the word "Òyìnbó" is a pronoun. Hence, "Òyìnbó" or “Oyibo” translates literally to "the person with a peeled-off or lightened skin". Other variations of the term in the Yoruba language include Eyinbo, which is shortened to "Eebo", as well as Oinbo, and Oyibo.

To identify Africans by their language groups, Sigismund Koelle documented how different Africans said specific terms in his 1854 study Polyglotta Africana. One such term was ''White Man''. His Yoruba sources included people from Ọta, Ẹgba, Okun, Ijẹbu, Ifẹ, Ondo, Itsẹkiri, and more, while his Igbo sources were from areas such as Isuama, Ishielu, Agbaja, Aro, and Mbofia. The Igbo respondents consistently used the term ''Onyọcha'' for ''White Man.'' In contrast, all the Yoruba participants stated their term was ''Òyìnbó''. These candid testimonies from the Igbo sources indicate that the term “oyinbo” or “oyibo” originated from the Yoruba and their neighboring groups.

One of the most authoritative confirmations of the Yoruba origin of "Oyibo" comes from the renowned Igbo linguist and etymologist, Michael J.C. Echeruo. In his 2001 publication ''Igbo-English Dictionary: A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Igbo Language, with an English-Igbo Index'', he annotated in the Igbo section that ''Oyibo'' is a loanword from the Yoruba term "Oyinbo". Furthermore, in the English-Igbo index section, under the entry for "white man", the translation includes "bekee", "Onyeocha", and "Oyibo", with the annotation "loan" specifically marked beside "Oyibo".

There are numerous other instances recorded by scholars in history acknowledging that, despite Oyinbo being used by many people in the modern times of southern Nigeria, it finds its origin in the Yoruba language. For instance, Ugo Nwokeji and Romanus Aboh in separate books came to the same conclusion, positing that the term "Oyibo" used by the Igbo is borrowed from the original Oyinbo used by Yoruba.

Oyibo was also used in reference to people who are foreign or Europeanised, including Saros in the towns of Onitsha and Enugu in the late 19th and early 20th century. Sierra Leonean missionaries, according to Ajayi Crowther, a Yoruba, and John Taylor, an Igbo, descendants of repatriated slaves, were referred to as ''oyibo ojii'' by the people of Onitsha.

Olaudah Equiano, an African abolitionist, claimed in his 1789 narrative that the people in ''Essaka'', Igboland, where he claimed to be from, used the term ''Oye-Eboe'' in reference to ''"Stout (strong, powerful), mahogany-coloured men from the south west of us"''. Vincent Carretta suggested that this might be an earlier version of the term Oyibo, however as he and Gloria Chuku later point out, Equiano's use of ''Oye-Eboe'', was in reference to other Africans and not Caucasians. Gloria Chuku suggested that Equiano's use of ''Oye-Eboe'' is not linked to ''Oyibo'', and that it is a reference to the generic term Onitsha and other more western Igbo people used to refer to other Igbo people. Both Paul Lovejoy and Vincent Carretta identified ''Oye-Eboe'' as a reference to the Aro.

See also

* Toubab
* Mzungu
* Oburoni

References

{{White people terms

Culture of Nigeria
European diaspora in Nigeria
Yoruba words and phrases