AFA – THE LANGUAGE OF THE FIRST HUMANS
We found that the original form in which Igbo was spoken was in the form which is known as Afa – the language of the first people. Research conducted and published by Prof. Angulu Onwuejeogwu formerly of University of Benin and by Professor Emeritus John Umeh of UNN, show that Afa was the language of oracle. It had been handed down in the time of the First Humans, who according to Igbo mythologies, Hebrew Genesis and The Egyptian Book of the Dead, lived in the world at the time when “death had not yet come into the world” and God communed freely with man. These First People were god-men. In recent usage they and their unmixed descendants were/are called Mmadu Chukwu/Mmadu Okpu/Adama or Eshi/Nshi). Surviving folk memory insists that they could travel long distances by the power of mind control. They were perfectly in tune with their environment, and both flora and fauna responded to and understood the Afa language spoken by these god men and god-women. Today traces of Afa can still be found in the cult language of masqueradesinitiation ceremonies and Ifa divination sessions among the Yoruba, Benin, Igala, Igbo and others. Its presence in the cult languages of masquerades in parts of the Middle Belt region of Nigeria, show a common origin with the Igbo. Afa language appears to have been used all over the world at a time when the population of the world was small. This language which the First Human Family probably spoke was bequeathed to the rest of the human family over time, because we have seen vestiges and remnants of words with similar Igbo sounds and meanings in most languages that we have studied around the world including Chinese, Turkish, English, Eskimo, Greek, Cretan, Egyptian, Akkadian, Sanskrit, Canaanite, Sumerian, Hebrew – the last four being Semitic.
In fact many surviving international words that have found themselves in Englishlanguage from its Roman, French and Celtic influences turn out to have etymological roots in Igbo/Afa. Apart from numerous basic words like cock (okuko), fair (mfe), go (gaa), say (saa), pray (ekpere), choir (ukwe ora), animal (anumanu), the following generic words indicate that Igbo was the root of the international linguistic phenomenon: Create (kere – etu, which means in Afa ‘Created the laws of life’); Eve (Ava/Afa) – Logos; Life – (Ele ife) ‘Light of Ele’/‘Light of God’ (Ele is the god of the Autochthons and equivalent of Hebrew El, Yoruba Ela and Muslim Allah); Love (Ele Ovu/Ofu) – ‘One God’; Oracle (Ora okala) - ‘Divination’; Prince (Opara Eshi) – ‘Sun king’ King (Ikenga) – ‘Power base of manhood’; Circle (okirikiri Ele) – ‘Surround Ele’; Good (Ogu Odi) – ‘Truth and Justice Being’; Chief (Ichie Efu) – ‘non initiate Community head’; Queen (Akwu Nne) – ‘Nesting place of the Mother Deity; Mind (Omi Ndu) – ‘Depth of Life/Spirit’; Human (Oha mmuo ana) – ‘Community of Earth-dwelling Spirits’; Temple (Ite mkpu ele) – ‘Anthill of Ele/Dwelling Place of the deity on earth’…
We have found Igbo Ukwu excavated symbols to share similarities with ancient writing systems of the Middle East, such as Old Cretan Linear A/B, Cretan Hieroglyphics, Cypro-Minoan, Old Sumerian, Proto-Palestinian, Elamite-Indic, Proto-Sinaitic, Hittite and Old Phoenician, to name a few (see plate 1). This has but one implication, namely that ancient Igbos had a writing system and a civilization whose influences reached as far as the Middle East by at least the second millennium B.C. This confirms our thesis that Igbo Ukwu (Igbo) was the hub of a global civilization that had not only not only influenced latter-day Egypt, but was actually its lost mythical capital Yebu, otherwise known as Heliopolis – “City of the Sun’.
In fact many surviving international words that have found themselves in Englishlanguage from its Roman, French and Celtic influences turn out to have etymological roots in Igbo/Afa. Apart from numerous basic words like cock (okuko), fair (mfe), go (gaa), say (saa), pray (ekpere), choir (ukwe ora), animal (anumanu), the following generic words indicate that Igbo was the root of the international linguistic phenomenon: Create (kere – etu, which means in Afa ‘Created the laws of life’); Eve (Ava/Afa) – Logos; Life – (Ele ife) ‘Light of Ele’/‘Light of God’ (Ele is the god of the Autochthons and equivalent of Hebrew El, Yoruba Ela and Muslim Allah); Love (Ele Ovu/Ofu) – ‘One God’; Oracle (Ora okala) - ‘Divination’; Prince (Opara Eshi) – ‘Sun king’ King (Ikenga) – ‘Power base of manhood’; Circle (okirikiri Ele) – ‘Surround Ele’; Good (Ogu Odi) – ‘Truth and Justice Being’; Chief (Ichie Efu) – ‘non initiate Community head’; Queen (Akwu Nne) – ‘Nesting place of the Mother Deity; Mind (Omi Ndu) – ‘Depth of Life/Spirit’; Human (Oha mmuo ana) – ‘Community of Earth-dwelling Spirits’; Temple (Ite mkpu ele) – ‘Anthill of Ele/Dwelling Place of the deity on earth’…
We have found Igbo Ukwu excavated symbols to share similarities with ancient writing systems of the Middle East, such as Old Cretan Linear A/B, Cretan Hieroglyphics, Cypro-Minoan, Old Sumerian, Proto-Palestinian, Elamite-Indic, Proto-Sinaitic, Hittite and Old Phoenician, to name a few (see plate 1). This has but one implication, namely that ancient Igbos had a writing system and a civilization whose influences reached as far as the Middle East by at least the second millennium B.C. This confirms our thesis that Igbo Ukwu (Igbo) was the hub of a global civilization that had not only not only influenced latter-day Egypt, but was actually its lost mythical capital Yebu, otherwise known as Heliopolis – “City of the Sun’.