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Egungun

2 stages from Yoruba to English.

Today it means a Yoruba masquerade tradition and costume representing the collective spirit of the ancestors

Where does the word "egungun" come from? It comes from Yoruba egúngún, adopted directly into English (1900s).

egúngún→egungun

Yoruba · 1600s

"ancestral masquerade spirits"

tonal variant of the word for "bones", applied to ancestral masquerade spirits honored since the Oyo kingdom

English · 1900s

"a Yoruba masquerade honoring ancestors"

adopted into English art-history and anthropology writing about Yoruba masquerade festivals

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