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ArchivesRe: Ejigayehu?
in reply to a message by LMS
It would seem to me highly unlikely that an Igala word from Nigeria would be part of the name of an Ethiopian child. Nigeria and Ethiopia are about 2500 miles (4000 km) apart across a wartorn part of Africa. How would parents in Ethiopia -- especially parents poor enough to have a child end up in an international foster program -- ever have heard of a name from a language spoken in south central Nigeria, much less have linked it to a name in their own language to create a name for their daughter?
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The name was originally used by the Igala and the Idomas adopted the name. The name is also found in Kenya, which is directly southwest of Ethiopia. So, somehow the name has travelled. According to a submission of the name to this site, it originally began as Ejiga and was a name frm the Kogi state of central Nigeria. It doesn't seem to be a very popular name, at least via locatemyname.com which lists 33 in Nigeria, 7 in the UK, 1 in Kenya, and an unstated number in other locations. Egija means pacesetter in regards to an Igala proverb which talks about how if Egija "does not lead the way who will carry the ritual basket?"
The most popular woman with the name Ejigayehu Shibabaw, who is an Ethiopian singer that goes by the diminutive "Gigi," was named with Ejiga as a prefix and Yehu added as a suffix in a nod to her upbringing in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahed church, which has congregations in all of the aforementioned locations. I'm not saying it is fact, because I am unsure, but it is possible that the name Egija travelled as a popular name throughout the congregants of the church and when her parents named her Ejigayehu, fans followed with the use.
Just as kids (yes, even super poor ones) in Africa have heard of Michael Jackson (Michael Jordan used to be the popular one, so I wonder who it is now), its likely that they have heard of popular singers on their own continent.
The most popular woman with the name Ejigayehu Shibabaw, who is an Ethiopian singer that goes by the diminutive "Gigi," was named with Ejiga as a prefix and Yehu added as a suffix in a nod to her upbringing in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahed church, which has congregations in all of the aforementioned locations. I'm not saying it is fact, because I am unsure, but it is possible that the name Egija travelled as a popular name throughout the congregants of the church and when her parents named her Ejigayehu, fans followed with the use.
Just as kids (yes, even super poor ones) in Africa have heard of Michael Jackson (Michael Jordan used to be the popular one, so I wonder who it is now), its likely that they have heard of popular singers on their own continent.
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Agreed - it seems a fairly popular Ethiopian name, why wouldn't it be Amharic?
Can't confirm for sure as I have no knowledge of Ge'ez script or Amharic, but this page on Ethiopian names gives the meaning as 'I saw much':
http://ethiopia.limbo13.com/index.php/ethiopian_names/ethiopian_names_e/
and another page on wikipedia for the name Alemayehu gives a translation of 'ayehu' as 'I have seen', as some corroboration:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alemayehu
Can't confirm for sure as I have no knowledge of Ge'ez script or Amharic, but this page on Ethiopian names gives the meaning as 'I saw much':
http://ethiopia.limbo13.com/index.php/ethiopian_names/ethiopian_names_e/
and another page on wikipedia for the name Alemayehu gives a translation of 'ayehu' as 'I have seen', as some corroboration:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alemayehu
This message was edited 10/24/2014, 10:00 AM
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I do not know Amharic either, but according to unicode tables, a dictionary and a grammar of Amharic (all on the web)
እጅግ (e-je-ge) Very
አየ ('a-ya) perfective stem for things like see, look, perceive, etc.
ሁ (hu) ist person simple past suffix, no prefix
Now, I do not even know enough grammar to figure out whether the suffix is to be applied to the perfective stem or whatever that thing is.
For people who know Amharic, how wrong did I get that?
And more interestingly, how is that for zero-knowledge scholarship with big data? Should I start marking these as ZKS :-)?
እጅግ (e-je-ge) Very
አየ ('a-ya) perfective stem for things like see, look, perceive, etc.
ሁ (hu) ist person simple past suffix, no prefix
Now, I do not even know enough grammar to figure out whether the suffix is to be applied to the perfective stem or whatever that thing is.
For people who know Amharic, how wrong did I get that?
And more interestingly, how is that for zero-knowledge scholarship with big data? Should I start marking these as ZKS :-)?
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That, or SWAG. ;-)
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