ONKA YORÙBÁ

Yorùbá numbering system

Writing dates in Yoruba

Yorùbá numbering system

The Yorùbá numeral system is intricate and unique. Majority of the numerals within the system are derived. In actuality, with the exception of one to ten and isolated numbers such as twenty ogun; thirty ogbon; two hundred igba; three hundred oodunrun; and four hundred irinwo, all others are derived. Excluding thirty, three hundred and four hundred, these exceptions in fact serve as the ‘building blocks’ for the formation of the other numerals in Yorùbá. This is most obvious in the formation of numerals within the range of eleven to one hundred and ninety-nine. Numbers one to ten: okan, eji, eta, erin, arun, efa, eje, ejo, esan, and ewa serve as the core counting forms in the system. There are various types of reckoning for these numbers, they are done in slightly different tongues such as eni/ookan, eeji, eeta, eerin, aarun-un, eefa, eeje, eejo, eesan-an, and eewa. Beyond counting, Yorùbá numbers serve as numeral qualifiers and they come in the forms of ordinals and cardinals which are adjective forms in the language. There are also numbers that serve a larger than numeral role in Yorùbá mythology, religion and world view. Numbers such as seven, fifteen (also used in its reduced form eedogun), twenty (also known as okoo), forty and two hundred (also known as ogowa) are significant in various renditions about Yorùbá beliefs and lifestyle.

Writing dates in Yoruba

In Yorùbá, writing dates also makes use of numbers. The numbers are put in positions according to their order in the month (e.g 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd etc). It also uses the either the traditional or modern method for the months. For example, ojó kejo, osù kerin odun is the 8^th day of the 4^th month; this is therefore the 8^th of April because April is the 4^th month of the year. However, for those who use the traditional naming system for the months: the date written above would be ojó kejo, osù Igbe.