as well as new items, was obtained from Mr J. U. Egharevba, the author of a short history of Benin in the vernacular,1 and some items, from Mr J. E. Edegbe, translator and interpreter of the Church Missionary Society at Benin City. During my second stay in Nigeria, I worked through the first proofs of this Dictionary with Mr Amadasu and Mr S. Obayuwana.
Some words have been taken from publications of the Church Missionary Society, mainly from the Communion Service (quoted as Akugbe) and the Gospel of St Mark.
A certain number of important names have been included, and these as well as titles, praise-names, etc. have been written with a capital so as to stand out more clearly. Names composed of other words contained in the dictionary have not been entered under their respective headings but are given as separate items, e.g. Iʋi‿eze (cf. oʋi “child”).
The collection of words contained in this dictionary is by no means exhaustive. Gaps will be found especially among the following groups:
1. Nouns of action of the type u＋verbal stem＋ʋ̃ɛ, e.g. ukɔʋ̃ɛ [ ˩ \ ˩ ] “planting”, which apparently can be formed from every verb but do not seem always to be in use.
2. Composite nouns consisting of prefix＋(ɔ- denoting noun-agents, i- nouns of action, u- things, often tools, etc.)＋verbal stem＋object, with all syllables on low tones irrespective of their original tones, e.g. ɔmaxe [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] “potter”, from ma [ ˥ ] and axe [ ˩ ˥ ] ; itẽrhã [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] “tree-felling”, from tɔ̃ [ ˥ ] and erhã [ ˩ ˥ ] ; ugbĩnamɛ [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] “umbrella”, from gbĩna [ ˩ ˥ ] and amɛ [ ˩ ˩ ] . They seem to be formed very freely though probably certain combinations are not in use.
3. Nouns derived from more than one verb, e.g. iyayi [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ] “faith”, from ya [ ˥ ] and yi [ ˥ ].
All these formations have been entered as far as they have come to the author’s notice, and it is hoped that students of the language will find no difficulty in determining the meaning of new words of these types by tracing their constituent elements. The same method is advised in the case of verbal combinations which are not found in the dictionary.
Etymological references, indicated by cf., are intended to elucidate the derivation and composition of words as well as the sources of loanwords. For the tones of loan-words the following works have been consulted―Ibo: Dr I. C. Ward, Introduction to the Ibo Language, and R. F. G. Adams, A Modern Ibo Grammar. Hausa: G. P. Bargery,
1 Ekherhe Vbe Ebe Itan Edo, 2nd edition, C. M. S., Benin City, 1934, quoted as Egh. Hist. Also in English as A Short History of Benin, by J. U. Egharevba, 1936, Church Missionary Society Bookshop, Lagos.
Recently, a short Bini-Yoruba-English vocabulary has been published by the same author, but since I obtained a copy of it only when this dictionary was in the press, I have not included any words from it here.
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