TRANSLATING YORUBA PROVERBS THROUGH THE CONCEPT OF ORO

The translation of Yoruba proverbs remains a difficult task because proverbs in Yoruba culture are not merely fixed sayings of wisdom but culturally situated acts of speech. This article argues that the Yoruba concept of oro—understood here as speech, word, and utterance—offers a more adequate framework for translating proverbs than equivalence-based models that privilege lexical substitution alone. In Yoruba thought, oro is not simply a verbal form; it is meaningful speech with epistemic, moral, social, and performative force. A proverb, therefore, functions as a compact utterance through which the community encodes truth, judgment, caution, and social memory. Drawing on translation ethics, paremiology, and Yoruba philosophical thought, the article analyses selected Yoruba proverbs and offers working translations into English and French. It shows that English and French each face distinct challenges in rendering oro: English often allows closer metaphorical retention but tends toward domestication through familiar idioms; French often preserves conceptual clarity but may increase abstraction and weaken oral density. The article concludes that Yoruba proverb translation should be guided by epistemic responsibility, cultural competence, and sensitivity to oro as speech in action rather than by equivalence alone.