well-established

Yesterday I thought to ask Abraham where the word “Monkolé” – describing his people and their language – came from. I wondered if it was linked to the fact that “moko” in Monkolé means “man” (the “o” after the “m” is automatically nasalised) as I had read that many tribes, worldwide, have a word for themselves which just means “the men” or “the people”. But in fact, according to Abraham, in this case it has nothing to do with that.

The Monkolé language is closely related to the Yoruba language, and their common ancestors came from Nigeria. Abraham told us that the people migrated west to the North of Benin (not that it was called Benin at the time!) and then some of them suggested going back again. The others answered them in Yoruba, “Mon ko lé” which apparently means “we've already built houses”, ie. we don't want to go back as we are well established here.

Amazing what you discover through one simple question!

PS And on the subject of being well-established, today we are celebrating six months in Benin!