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[Facts] Re: Morenike
in reply to a message by Lethe
Well, Africa's big and includes the Mediterranean countries - whose inhabitants, once they became Muslims and invaded Spain, were known as Moors. So that'll be where Mme Claire's song came from. I think it's too far North to have influenced Yoruba, especially since the meaning is so different.
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Morenica is a Ladino word used as first name (it is very usual among 12th c.-15th c. Sephardic Jews). It comes from morena, "dark (haired or skinned)", with the diminutive suffix -ica. And it is the same in the actual Spanish (the use of the suffix -ico/-ica is very usual in Murcia, e.g., whereas in other dialects other suffixes are used: -uco/-uca, -illo/illa...).The formal coincidence with the Yoruba Morenike is just that, a formal coincidence.
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