quent ɛdɛ-ɽ̃ũʋ̃aɽ̃ɛ̃. ɛd-ɛki [ ˩ \ ˩ ]
market-day. The days of the
Bini market week are: 1st, ɛd-
ɛki‿ɔba [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ˦ ˦ ] “day of Benin
central market”; 2nd, ɛd-ɛk-
igo [ ˩ ˥ ˦ (3-1) ] “day of Igo-mar-
ket (?)” ― this day is also called
ɛd-ekɛ̃ n-aka [ ˩ ˥ ˩ ˥ ˩ ], lit. “small (?)
rest-day”, i.e. the day between
two rest-days; 3rd, ɛd-ɛki‿adɔlɔ
[ ˩ ˥ ˦ ˦ ˩ ˥ ] “day of the Adɔlɔ-
market”; 4th, ɛd-ekɛ̃ [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ] rest-
day; originally the rest-day of
the Ɔxwahɛ [ ˩ / ˩ ]-priests (only?),
now all over the country. On
ɛd-ekɛ̃, the witches are supposed
to have their meetings. The day
is also called ɛd-ɛki‿Enyaɛ [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ˦ ˩ ]
“day of the Enyaɛ-market”.
Some expressions for days of the
European week that are used by
old people only: Monday, ɛdɛ
n-asuɛ̃ nwina ʋ-uzɔla [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˥ ˩ ˥ ]
“the day one starts to work in
the week”, or ad-uzɔl-ɛdɛgbe
[ ˩ ˥ ˩ ˥ ˦ (3-1) ] “week is finished at
daybreak” (the verb is do);
Tuesday, kpɛd-eva ʋ-uzɔla [ ˥ ˦ ˩ ˥ ˩ ˥ ]
“two days in the week”; cf.
ikpɛdɛ [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ]; Wednesday, ɛdɛ n-
awa‿inwin-eva [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˥ ˦ ] “the
day which divides work into
two” (wa [ / ]). For the other
days v. iɽaxwɛ [ ˥ ˥ ˩ ], axwɛ [ ˥ ˩ ],
uzɔla [ ˥ ˩ ˥ ]. Idiom.: ɛdɛ n-aw-
eri-ɛdɛ ye [ ˩ ˩ ˥ ˥ ˦ ˦ ˩ ˥ ] “the day
when it is said: so the day is”:
the day when an Ɔba’s death is
announced by the Iyasɛ [ ˥ ˩ ˥ ],
i.e. three years after his death.
ɛdɛ is used as subject in several
cases where in English the im-
personal pronoun “it” is used,
e.g. ɛdɛ mũ [ ˩ ˥ (4-1) ] “it is dark”;
v. also ota [ ˩ ˩ ], hiihii [ ˩ ˩ ], and
