Benin

name

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Yoruboid *ú-lí Yoruba ileder. Yoruba ì- Yoruba bí Proto-Edekiri *ɪ́-nʊ̃́ Proto-Edekiri *ɪ́-lʊ̃́ Yoruba inú Yoruba ibinuder. Yoruba ile ibinubor. Itsekiri Ubinubor. Portuguese Benimbor. English Benin From Portuguese Benim, from Itsekiri Ubinu. The term is first documented in the late 1490s upon Portuguese contact with the Itsekiri Kingdom. The etymology is unclear; it appears Benin was always used as an exonym (probably by the Itsekiri and Yoruba) for the Benin Kingdom, which was always referred to as Ẹ̀dó, and older Ìgòdòmigòdò. The leading hypothesis is that the term originally derived from Yoruba ilẹ̀ ìbínú (“land of anger”), which emerges from a folk myth regarding purported founder of the Benin empire, Oranmiyan, who was a Yoruba prince, who referred to the region by this phrase because of his frustration in ruling the land.

1. A country in West Africa, formerly Dahomey.
2. A country in West Africa, formerly Dahomey.
3. A historical kingdom in West Africa, in present-day Nigeria.