Meaning of ọ̀yà | Babel Free

Definitions

1. cane rat, grasscutter
2. labor
3. something that is forked
4. someone who is castrated, eunuch
5. wife
   Ekiti
6. A female orisha and one of the irúnmọlẹ̀ in the Yoruba religion, she is believed to be the spirit of the Niger river, and is the goddess of storms, winds. She is the wife of Ṣàngó, and was also an ayaba (“queen”), when he was the Aláàfin of Ọ̀yọ́.
7. Niger (a major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria)

Equivalents

Examples

“She is regarded as the favorite of Ṣàngó's wife because of their similar tempers.”

“Ọyá pé méjì. Ọya kìíní ni èyí tí ó bá àwọn Irúnmọlẹ̀ wá sí ayé; èkejì sì ni Ọya tí ó jẹ́ ìyàwóo Ṣàngó Ìtí-olú Olúkòso tíí ṣe Aláàfin ní Ọyọ́-ilé”

There are two forms of Oya. The first Oya is the primordial deity who accompanied the four hundred other deities to earth, and the second is Oya the orisha who was the wife of Shango the Alaafin of Oyo

CEFR level