| 释义 |
Yoruba, n. and a.|ˈjɒrʊbə|
Also 9 Yarriba.
[Native name.]
A. n.
a. The language of the Yorubas, a tonal language of the Kwa group.
1841Outl. Vocab. Lang Western & Central Africa 2 (heading) Ako, Eyo, Yabú, or Yarriba. 1843S. Crowther (title) Vocabulary of the Yoruba language. Part I.—English and Yoruba, Part II.—Yoruba and English. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 755/1 The Bible and several religious treatises have been translated into Yoruba. 1927E. S. Pankhurst Delphos v. 51 Yoruba, one of the African languages, conjugates its verbs as in English, though its vocabulary is entirely different. 1964New Statesman 1 May 681/1 In Accra recently a Nigerian company, under the direction of the brilliant young artist Demas Nwoko, presented a dramatised version, in Yoruba, of Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard. 1972B. Emecheta In Ditch i. 6 The landlady started scolding her husband in Yoruba.
b. (A member of) a Black people of western Nigeria and neighbouring parts.
1843S. Crowther Vocab. Yoruba Lang. p. iii, The Yorubas, like other nations, have always considered themselves the first people in the world. 1897M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. xiii. 526, I had a set of porters composed of four Bassa boys, two Wei Weis, one Dualla, and two Yorubas. 1937Discovery July 225/1 The Yoruba have only the vaguest tradition of their own past. 1960Guardian 15 July 14/3 The Yorubas live in the largest urban agglomerations to be found in traditional Africa. 1970P. Oliver Savannah Syncopators 32 Between the lands of the Ibo and those of the Ashanti (Akan) of the old Gold Coast (Ghana) lie the domains of the Yoruba of Nigeria and Dahomey.
B. adj. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of this people.
1843[see sense A. b above]. 1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 517/1 In the Yoruba lands the Church Missionary Society has 11 stations. 1938J. Cary Castle Corner 357 Four big Yoruba soldiers. 1957M. Banton W. Afr. City viii. 153 A Yoruba secret society called Engugun. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 366/2 In Nigeria, Yoruba woodcarvers have adapted their techniques to work in concrete.
Hence ˈYoruban n. and a.
1853S. Tucker Abbeokuta (ed. 2) ii. 15 There were few or no Yorubans brought to Sierra Leone till the year 1822. Ibid. viii. 100 It afforded Mr. Townsend the opportunity of becoming in some degree acquainted with the Yoruban language. 1879J. A. Farrer Primitive Manners iii. 89 Captain Burton justly calls attention to the possibility of many Yoruban proverbs being relics of the Moslems. 1936V. A. Demant Christian Polity xi. 193 The thunder-god of the Yorubans is decidedly an earthly king who became a god. 1957M. Stearns Story of Jazz iii. 27 The musical instruments for such occasions consist of Yoruban drums, shaped like hour glasses, and the drumming and singing are in the Yoruban style. |