The word “Yorùbá” could have its etymology in Hausa.
People seem genuinely surprised that the word “Yorùbá” could have its etymology in Hausa. But why? “France” is not a French word. “German” is not a German word etc. The “Chinese” people never call themselves that. These are called ‘exonyms’: names given by outsiders.
The Yorùbá themselves call themselves “Ọmọ káàárọ̀ oòjíire” (People who ask ‘Good morning, did you wake up well?’) or Ọmọ Oòduà (Odùduwà’s children). This is what you’ll usually find in Yorùbá translations and speeches and literature.
The most convincing breakdown of the name I’ve found is “Yaro Ọba” (Children of the Ọba) which the Hausa/Fulani likely used to refer to the Ọ̀yọ́ people they first had contact with.
There’s nothing wrong with a name coined by what outsiders likely called us.
The British, hearing “Yaro Ọba” probably called it Yarooba or Yaribba (if the Hausa themselves didn’t already started using that term before the British came). And then it was adopted as a general term to refer to people occupying the whole space.
The point is that it has now become a Yorùbá word (albeit with no particular meaning except to refer to the people). The earlier terms (Ọmọ Káàárọ̀ oòjíire, Ọmọ Oòduà) are still being used in literature and speeches and writings. So who’s complaining?
Speaking of exonyms, I stumbled on the likely etymology of the word Òyìnbó/Oyibo a while ago that made the most sense to me from a phonological and morphological perspective.
