Yoruba culture attaches great importance to names. That's why no child is given a name by them without a meaning, an edifying one at that. Indeed it's their fundamental belief that your name reflects who you are. That's why the Yoruba will say 'oruko nro ni'. When they see you behave either decently (Omoluabi) or irresponsibly (Akotileta), they will ask of your name. And truly, when your name is mentioned, they simply draw the appropriate conclusion to reflect any of the above two typologies of name description and they will say: oruko nro ni. And no more. In the real sense of it, whether spiritually or otherwise, the Yoruba are always almost 90% on point in giving names to their children to reflect who they are.
It's against this background that we try to analyse the etymology of the word 'mob'. Etymology simply means 'the meaning or derivation of a word. Or a chronological account of the birth and development of a particular word or element of a word, often delineating its spread from one language to another and its evolving changes in form and meaning especially as manifested in individual words'. Thus, even though Michael Opeyemi Bamidele are the given names, but the man has decided to adopt the acronym MOB as a brand name or what the Yoruba may call 'oriki' (cognomen). Please also note that oriki is an extension or a reflection of one's name in Yoruba.
It's a notorious fact today that when you mention the word 'MOB', no one is in doubt who you are referring to.
A study of the etymology (meaning) of the word MOB reveals any one of the following: "a disorderly or riotous crowd of people or persons; a crowd or person bent on, or engaged in lawless violence; any person or group or collection of persons or things that engage in unruly acts or behaviour; a criminal gang, especially one involved in drug trafficking, extortion, etc; a Mafia; a person or group of persons stimulating one another to excitement and losing ordinary rational control over their activity".
The word "MOB" also means something or person appertaining to, or characteristic of a lawless, irrational, disorderly, or riotous crowd. It is further described as a crowd of noisy and hostile people. It is a gang, clique, horde, coteries, rabbles, scums riffraffs, attackers and the likes. None of these meanings is edifying or complimentary.
Is it, therefore, a surprise that someone will gleefully call himself MOB and he's truly behaving to type? Oruko nro ni. Yoruba on point. Etymology on point.
By Dr. Oladele Ayetoro
It's against this background that we try to analyse the etymology of the word 'mob'. Etymology simply means 'the meaning or derivation of a word. Or a chronological account of the birth and development of a particular word or element of a word, often delineating its spread from one language to another and its evolving changes in form and meaning especially as manifested in individual words'. Thus, even though Michael Opeyemi Bamidele are the given names, but the man has decided to adopt the acronym MOB as a brand name or what the Yoruba may call 'oriki' (cognomen). Please also note that oriki is an extension or a reflection of one's name in Yoruba.
It's a notorious fact today that when you mention the word 'MOB', no one is in doubt who you are referring to.
A study of the etymology (meaning) of the word MOB reveals any one of the following: "a disorderly or riotous crowd of people or persons; a crowd or person bent on, or engaged in lawless violence; any person or group or collection of persons or things that engage in unruly acts or behaviour; a criminal gang, especially one involved in drug trafficking, extortion, etc; a Mafia; a person or group of persons stimulating one another to excitement and losing ordinary rational control over their activity".
The word "MOB" also means something or person appertaining to, or characteristic of a lawless, irrational, disorderly, or riotous crowd. It is further described as a crowd of noisy and hostile people. It is a gang, clique, horde, coteries, rabbles, scums riffraffs, attackers and the likes. None of these meanings is edifying or complimentary.
Is it, therefore, a surprise that someone will gleefully call himself MOB and he's truly behaving to type? Oruko nro ni. Yoruba on point. Etymology on point.
By Dr. Oladele Ayetoro
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