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    as well as new items, was obtained from Mr J. U. Egharevba, the author

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*of a short history of Benin in the vernacular,^1 and some items, from

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*Mr J. E. Edegbe, translator and interpreter of the Church Missionary

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*Society at Benin City. During my second stay in Nigeria, I worked

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*through the first proofs of this Dictionny with Mr Amadasu and

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*Mr S. Obayuwana.

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*    Some words have been taken from publications of the Church

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*Missionary Society, mainly from the Communion Service (quoted as

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*Akugbe) and the Gospel of St Mark.

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*    A certain number of important names have been included, and these

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*as well as titles, praise-names, etc. have been written with a capital so

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*as to stand out more clearly. Names composed of other words contained

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*in the dictionary have not been entered under their respective headings

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*but are given as separate items, e.g. Iʋi‿eze (cf. oʋi “child”).

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*    The collection of words contained in this dictionary is by no means

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*exhaustive. Gaps will be found especially among the following groups:

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*    1. Nouns of action of the type uverbal stemʋ̃ɛ, e.g. ukɔʋ̃ɛ [ ˩ \ ˩ ]

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*“planting”, which apparently can be formed from every verb but do

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*not seem always to be in use.

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*    2. Composite nouns consisting of prefix+(ɔ- denoting noun-agents,

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*i- nouns of action, u- things, often tools, etc.)+verbal stemobject, with

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*all syllables on low tones irrespective of their original tones, e.g. ɔmaxe

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*[ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] “potter”, from ma [ ˥ ] and axe [ ˩ ˥ ] ; itẽrhã [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] “tree-felling”,

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*from tɔ̃ [ ˥ ] and erhã [ ˩ ˥ ] ; ugbĩnamɛ [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] “umbrella”, from gbĩna

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*[ ˩ ˥ ] and amɛ [ ˩ ˩ ] . They seem to be formed very freely though probably

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*certain combinations are not in use.

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*    3. Nouns derived from more than one verb, e.g. iyayi [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ] “faith”,

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*from ya [ ˥ ] and yi [ ˥ ].

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*    All these formations have been entered as far as they have come to

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*the author’s notice, and it is hoped that students of the language will

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*find no difficulty in determining the meaning of new words of these

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*types by tracing their constituent elements. The same method is

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*advised in the case of verbal combinations which are not found in the

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*dictionary.

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*    Etymological references, indicated by cf., are intended to elucidate

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*the derivation and composition of words as well as the sources of loan-

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*words. For the tones of loan-words the following works have been

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*consulted―Ibo: Dr I. C. Ward, Introduction to the Ibo Language, and

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*R. F. G. Adams, A Modern Ibo Grammar. Hausa: G. P. Bargery,

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*^1 Ekherhe Vbe Ebe Itan Edo, 2nd edition, C. M. S., Benin City, 1934, quoted as

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*Egh. Hist. Also in English as A Short History of Benin, by J. U. Egharevba, 1936,

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*Church Missionary Society Bookshop, Lagos.

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*    Recently, a short Bini-Yoruba-English vocabulary has been published by the

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*same author, but since I obtained a copy of it only when this dictionary was in

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*the press, I have not included any words from it here.

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*ix

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