English Explanatory Dictionary

Benin

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. A country in West Africa, formerly Dahomey.
  2. People's Republic of Benin, from 1975 to 1990
  3. Republic of Benin, since 1990
  4. A historical kingdom in West Africa, in present-day Nigeria.

Pronunciation

/bɪˈniːn/ /bɛˈniːn/ /bəˈnin/ /bəˈnɪn/ En-us-Benin.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Soundguys-Benin.wav

Word forms

Benin

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Yoruboid *ú-lí Yoruba ileder. Yoruba ì- Yoruba bí Proto-Edekiri *ɪ́-nʊ̃́ Proto-Edekiri *ɪ́-lʊ̃́ Yoruba inú Yoruba ibinuder. Yoruba ile ibinubor. Itsekiri Ubinubor. Portuguese Benimbor. English Benin From Portuguese Benim, from Itsekiri Ubinu. The term is first documented in the late 1490s upon Portuguese contact with the Itsekiri Kingdom. The etymology is unclear; it appears Benin was always used as an exonym (probably by the Itsekiri and Yoruba) for the Benin Kingdom, which was always referred to as Ẹ̀dó, and older Ìgòdòmigòdò. The leading hypothesis is that the term originally derived from Yoruba ilẹ̀ ìbínú (“land of anger”), which emerges from a folk myth regarding purported founder of the Benin empire, Oranmiyan, who was a Yoruba prince, who referred to the region by this phrase because of his frustration in ruling the land.

Related words

Countries of the world

Derived words

Bay of Benin Beninese Bight of Benin Republic of Benin

Translations

Afrikaans: Benin Amharic: ቤኒን Arabic: بَنِين Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܸܢܝܼܢ Armenian: Բենին Asturian: Benín Azerbaijani: Benin Balinese: Bénin Belarusian: Бені́н Bengali: বেনিন Betawi: Bénin Breton: Benin Bulgarian: Бени́н Burmese: ဘီနင် Catalan: Benín Chinese Mandarin: 貝寧 /贝宁 Czech: Benin Danish: Benin Dhivehi: ބެނީން Dutch: Benin Esperanto: Benino Estonian: Benin Faroese: Benin Finnish: Benin French: Bénin Galician: Benín Georgian: ბენინი German: Benin Greek: Μπενίν Hausa: Binin Hausa: Benin Hebrew: בנין Hindi: बेनिन Hungarian: Benin Icelandic: Benín Indonesian: Benin Interlingua: Benin Irish: Beinin Italian: Benin Japanese: ベナン Javanese: Bénin
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