Abstract

A discussion of a language‟s etymology involves an examination of the nature of its words. The knowledge gained from this study helps to indicate the history of its speakers, the contacts they made along the way, and their settlement patterns. That is why a people‟s language is about the most important aspect of their culture because the language carries their unique identity, philosophy, worldview, knowledge, experience, and reality through the words which have become signifiers of meaning. An oral culture as the Urhobo the language assumes even greater significance as it becomes the repository of the people‟s indigenous history, knowledge and ontological experience as well as their values, mores, and morals. The Urhobo language is thus a most crucial aspect of Urhobo Studies and its etymology thus needs to be explored in a meaningful discussion of the ethnic group‟s experience and reality.