Reconstruction:Proto-Yoruboid/ò-wú
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This Proto-Yoruboid entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence. |
Proto-Yoruboid
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Compare with Igbo òwu, Igbo òwulù, perhaps related to Khana èwoo. A change from /w/ vs. /ɾ/ or vice versa may suggest it could be related to Ahwai aruru, Urhobo orúrú, Nupe lulu. Botanists believe that cotton originated simultaneously from different parts of the World, among which Africa. Archaeologists have found evidence of cotton weaving in Nubia dating from the BC era and in today’s Niger dating from the 1st and 2nd centuries. It is possible that a use of cotton or thread in the Niger-Benue region may be more older than hypothesized, which makes it possible of a Volta-Niger origin, but an older origin is unlikely. Perhaps it comes from a form borrowed into Proto-Yoruboid or into the older proto-ancestors of these languages and then spread as cotton spread across the region.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]*ò-wú