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    Selected African Proverbs: From the Igbo People of Eastern Nigeria
    Selected African Proverbs: From the Igbo People of Eastern Nigeria
    Selected African Proverbs: From the Igbo People of Eastern Nigeria
    Ebook57 pages33 minutes

    Selected African Proverbs: From the Igbo People of Eastern Nigeria

    By Uzoma Azuonye

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    About this ebook

    Selected African proverbs is a collection of proverbs of the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateJun 30, 2014
    ISBN9781483530222
    Selected African Proverbs: From the Igbo People of Eastern Nigeria

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      Book preview

      Selected African Proverbs - Uzoma Azuonye

      Self portrait of the author

      ISBN: 9781483530222

      Dedication

      To my parents Mazi Stephen Onyemaechi Azuonye and Ezinne Hannah Egwuime Azuonye who always used proverbs in conversations, instructions and admonition . How I wish I listened more and laughed less.

      A child whose father suffers from scrotal elephantiasis is never afraid of the scrotum of an adult.

      An Igbo Proverb

      PREFACE

      The arrangement of the proverbs in this edition is aimed at easy reading by both Igbo speaking and non Igbo speaking readers. Each proverb has an Igbo text, followed by an English text and an interpretation in italics. Despite an Igbo proverb that proverbs should not be interpreted, the author found it necessary here to interpret the proverbs for a global readership and understanding of the wisdom behind the proverbs.

      As much as possible, the proverbs have been told in the dialect used popularly among Igbo people to tell them. There has been no attempt to use a particular Igbo dialect or to use any form of central Igbo dialect that may lead to loss of meaning, content and humor in the popular dialect. The dialects used here are derived from Isuikwuato, Aro Ndizuogu, Onitsha and slangs.

      The proverbs have not been arranged in any particular order or category. This is a reflection of the role played by proverbs in the society where a proverb pops up in a conversation to clarify a dragging issue from an angle that throws surprise and humor into the conversation.

      There has been an attempt to make the English text as close as possible to the original Igbo text. There are many Igbo expressions that cannot be interpreted into English without loss of meaning.

      This slim volume of Igbo proverbs is better seen as a collection of urban proverbs. Most of the proverbs used here find applications in business, modern challenges, city life and humor. This is only a little collection from a huge vault of Igbo proverbs told over centuries in a myriad of dialects.

      Uzoma Azuonye

      August 2013, Kaduna Nigeria.

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      I will not thank my late mother Hannah Egwuime Azuonye enough for the contribution she made to this work by her frequent use of proverbs when we were growing up. My thanks also go to my brother Chief Adindu Azuonye who in his traditional role makes use of proverbs very often in the course of a discussion. .

      INTRODUCTION

      Proverbs are used frequently by Igbo people to enrich conversation and to make their points with very few words. Igbo people live in the South Eastern part of Nigeria and across the River Niger to the West. Despite the myriad of dialects of the Igbo language, most of the proverbs in this collection are shared by Igbo communities far and wide.

      Traditionally, Igbo people are ruled by a parliament

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