Yoruba World Family - Iran Yoruba by Olamijulo S.K. PAGE 3 HAEP HOME            FRONT PAGE             PAGE 2                   PAGE 4                     PAGE 5                    CONTACT US PAGE 3 : Faniran J.O. DATE: October 4, 2004 Dear Compatriot, Dr. Femi Fajemisin, I have read with interest your piece on the origin of the word "Yoruba". It makes sense to reach the conclusion you have reached and indeed your conclusion challenges the version being parroted by other scholars. While I would want to go along with your observation, there is still this little area that needs to be made clear. If indeed the terms "Yoruba" and "Oyo" are indigenous to the Yoruba and not given by the Hausa, why is it that the term "Yoruba" was not originally used to describe the whole ethnic group that goes by that name today. Literature has made us believe that originally we were known by our separate sub-ethnic names like Ijebu, Ijesha, Oyo, Egba, Ekiti etc. And that the name "Yoruba" only became applicable to all at the dawn of the modern day Nigeria and its attendant ethnic politics. Why were we not all called by that name "Yoruba"? Let us keep the conversation going. Thanks and God bless. Rev. Dr. J. O. Faniran