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*    ing a new farm; egbɔ fo ʋ-

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*    ugbo ɽuɛ ɽa [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ˩ ˥ ˩ / ˩ ˩ ] is the fell-

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*    ing of trees finished already on

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*    your farm? cf. gbɔ [ ˥ ]; v. itẽrhã

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*    [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ].

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*egbɔ̃ [ ˥ ˩ ] (1) a high fence (with

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*    openings at the side) made of

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*    ixiʋ̃i [ ˥ ˥ ˩ ]-trees, and standing at

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*    the village entrance (uɣe [ ˥ ˩ ]);

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*    it keeps off evil spirits and bad

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*    charms; ixiʋ̃i is used because

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*    of its particular “power” as the

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*    most senior, “aged”, tree. (2)

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*    a name.

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*egbɔɣɔ [ ˥ ˩ ˩ ] native tobacco, much

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*    planted on farms.

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*egbu [ ˥ ˥ ] a kind of woodpecker

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*    with a big head and short beak

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*    (akpalakp-erhã [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˥ ] has a

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*    smaller head, but its beak is a

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*    little longer).

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*eɣã [ ˥ ˩ ] (1) chain; not as big as

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*    ɔgiɔɽɔ [ ˩ ˥ ˥ ]; eɣã na kɔ̃kɔ̃ gbe

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*    [ ˥ / ˩ ˩ ˥ ˦ ] this chain is very big.

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*    (2) prison (in the meaning of

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*    imprisoment); amu‿ɛ̃ y-eɣã

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*    [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ˧ ˩ ] they put him in prison;

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*    cf. Yor. ɛnwɔ [ ˩ ˩ ]; cf. also oleɣã

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*    [ ˥ ˥ ˩ ], ɔsuoleɣã [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ]; v. ogba 1 [ ˥ ˩ ].

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*Eɣaɛʋo [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] “sharers of the

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*    country”: this term refers to

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*    two groups of Bini chiefs, the

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*    Eɣaɛʋo N-ogbe [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˥ ˩ ] and the

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*    Eɣaɛʋo N-oɽe [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˥ ˥ ]. While the

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*    first group contains the house-

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*    hold officials at the Ɛguae [ ˩ ˩ ],

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*    the second consists of the fief-

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*    holders in the country, who,

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*    however, reside in Benin City.

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*    The four most important mem-

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*    bers of this group are: Iyasɛ

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*    [ ˥ ˩ ˥ ], Esɔgbã [ ˥ ˩ ˥ ], Esɔ̃ [ ˥ / ], and

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*    Osuma [ ˥ ˩ ˥ ]; they are also called

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*    Eɣaɛʋo n-enɛ [ ˩ ˩ ˩ \ ˩ ], “the four

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*    Eɣaɛʋo”; while the others are

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*    the Eɣaɛʋo n-ikotɔ [ ˩ ˩ ˩ \ ˩ ˩ ], the

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