Nsibidi

{{short description|Medieval symbol system}} {{Use Nigerian English|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox writing system | name = Nsibidi | type = Ideographic | languages =Ekoid/Ejagham, Efik, Ibibio, Igbo | time = circa 400 AD – present | children = ''anaforuana'' (Cuba), ''veve'' (Haiti), “Neo-Nsibidi” (Nigeria), “Akagu”  (Nigeria) | sample = Nsibidi autonym.svg | imagesize = 250px | caption = A symbol simply described as "Nsibidi name written" by Elphinstone Dayrell in 1911.<ref name="dayrell">{{cite journal|title=Further Notes on 'Nsibidi Signs with Their Meanings from the Ikom District, Cross River Southern Nigeria |first=Elphinstone |last=Dayrell |journal=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=41 |date=July–December 1911 |pages=521–540 |doi=10.2307/2843186|jstor=2843186 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449623 }}</ref> | note = none }}

'''Nsibidi'''{{IPAc-en|audio=LL-Q33578_(ibo)-Celetex-Nsibidi.wav}} (also known as '''Nsibiri''',<ref name="Elechi">{{cite book|title=Doing Justice without the State: The Afikpo (Ehugbo) Nigeria Model |first=O. Oko |last=Elechi |page=98 |publisher=CRC Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-415-97729-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jIqKJX0BUx4C&pg=PA98}}</ref> '''Nchibiddi''' or '''Nchibiddy'''<ref name="Diringer">{{cite book|title=The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind |first=David |last=Diringer |pages=148–149 |publisher=Philosophical Library |year=1953}}</ref>) is a system of symbols or proto-writing developed by the [Ejagham people| in the cross river region,[Nigeria] and South Western part of Cameroon. They are classified as pictograms, though there have been suggestions that some are logograms or syllabograms.<ref name="Gregersen">{{cite book |title=Language in Africa: An Introductory Survey |first=Edgar A. |last=Gregersen |page=176 |publisher=CRC Press |year=1977 |isbn=0-677-04380-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4lytWv1JKAC&pg=PA176}}</ref>

The symbol system was first encountered by Europeans like Charles Partridge, a British Assistant District Colonial officer and anthropologist who discovered the Ikom Monoliths (also known as the Bakor or Akwanshi Monoliths) in 1903 on the banks of the Aweyong River.<ref name="Patridge"/> Description of the Circles of Upright Sculptured Stones on the Left Bank of the Aweyong River in the Ikom region of southeast Nigeria, dated to roughly the 5th Century.<ref name="Patridge">{{cite book|title= Cross River Natives: Being Some Notes on the Primitive Pagans of Obubura Hill District, Southern Nigeria |first=Charles |last=Patridge|publisher= Hutchinson and Co., London |year=1905 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.36673287}}. </ref> He specifically mentioned the occurrence of these stones in such places as Etiningnta (Itinta), Agba, Iseni (Abinti nsene) and Anop (Alok). He also indicated that he saw some in Okuni, near Ikom while a cluster of stones were also found in the village of Abuntak Isam in the Ekajuk village group of Ogoja district. Partridge who also first drew attention to the relationship between the cicatrices on these stones and the tattoo marks he noticed among the indigenes, especially women of the area. A further work by P. A. Talbot, In the Shadow of The Bush (1912) took time to document the elaborate veneration of stones as objects of ritual and worship by Ejagham people. He also underscored the organic relationship between the tattoos found on the bodies of Ejagham people and the designs on some of these stones, going further to explain for the first time that these tattoos and designs were indeed, a form of indigenous writing called Nsibidi.<ref name="Onor 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Onor |first1=Sandy Ojang |author1-link=Sandy Ojang Onor |title=The cross river monliths in historical perspective |journal=International Journal of Current Research |date=March 2017 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=48164-48169 |issn=0975-833X}}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=In the Shadow of the Bush |first=Percy Amaury |last=Talbot|publisher=Heinemann, London. George Doran, New York|year=1912|url= https://www.journalcra.com/sites/default/files/issue-pdf/20854.pdf}}</ref>

In 1926, in another book, The Peoples of Southern Nigeria, vol II that he specifically and graphically documented the existence of the monoliths:<ref name="Onor 2017"/>

{{blockquote|The finest stone circle seen by me is in the country of the Nuamm at Nyerekpong, a few miles north of Atamm... It is about twenty-five yards in diameter, but only eight monoliths, composed of a shelly limestone, are now left, one of which has fallen... The Nuamm stated that they only knew them under the name Etal, “The Stones”... They assured me that there are finer circles at Alokk, a few miles to the east in which the stones are bigger as well as better carved. Another ring but of much smaller and uncut stones is to be found at Ogomogom...<ref name="Onor 2017"/>}}

Talbot went further to document the existence of monoliths in other parts of Ejagham territory including Mandak in Ekajuk, Etinta, Ndurakpe and Olulumo as well as Mfum and Agbokim in present day Ikom and Etung local government Areas respectively.<ref name="Onor 2017"/><ref name=Talbot>{{cite book|title= The peoples of Southern Nigeria: a sketch of their history, ethnology and languages with an abstract of the 1921 census |first=Percy Amaury |last=Talbot|url=https://archive.org/details/peoplesofsouther0000perc/page/n6/mode/1up |publisher= Frank Cass & Co |year=1969}}</ref>

Nsibidi is used on wall designs, calabashes, metals (such as bronze), leaves, swords, and tattoos.<ref name="Elechi"/><ref name="Rothenberg">{{cite book|title=Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Toward an Ethnopoetics |first1=Jerome |last1=Rothenberg |first2=Diane |last2=Rothenberg |pages=[https://archive.org/details/symposiumofwhole00rothrich/page/285 285]–286 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1983 |isbn=0-520-04531-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/symposiumofwhole00rothrich|url-access=registration }}</ref> It is primarily used by the Mgbe leopard society or Ekpe leopard society (also known as Ngbe or Egbo), a secret society that is found across old Cross River region among the Ekoi, Igbo, Efik, Bahumono, and other nearby peoples.

Before the colonial era of Nigerian history, Nsibidi was divided into a sacred version and a public, more decorative version which could be used by women.<ref name="Rothenberg"/> Nsibidi was and is still a means of transmitting Mgbe/Ekpe symbolism. Nsibidi was transported to Cuba and Haiti via the Atlantic slave trade, where it developed into the ''anaforuana'' and ''veve'' symbols.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Baking in the sun: visionary images from the South |publisher=University of Southwestern Louisiana |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-936819-03-7 |editor-last=Lowe |editor-first=Sylvia |edition=1st |location=Lafayette |editor-last2=Lowe |editor-first2=Warren}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The History of Africa: The Quest for Eternal Harmony |first=Molefi K. |last=Asante |page=252 |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-415-77139-9}}</ref>

==History== thumb|upright=1.15|alt=Another picture of a proper noun in Nsibidi|The name of a boy called 'Onuaha' as recorded by J. K. Macgregor in 1909. Macgregor interpreted the first two symbols as corruptions of the Latin letters 'N' and 'A' and the last symbol a generic Nsibidi sign. Macgregor noted the growing European influence on Nsibidi.

Robert Farris Thompson glosses the Ekoid word ''nsibidi'' as translating to "cruel letters", from ''sibi'' "bloodthirsty". The context is the use of the symbols by the Mgbe and Ekpe society in the Old Calabar slave traders who had established a "lavish system of human sacrifice".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sublette |first=Ned |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZZ4QKZEumIC&pg=PA196 |title=Cuba and its music: from the first drums to the mambo |publisher=Chicago Review Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-55652-632-9 |volume=1 |page=196}}</ref> In old Cross River region, Nsibidi is mostly associated with the Ejagham men’s Mgbe society and later the Ekpe men’s society. === Origin ===

The origin of Nsibidi is now generally attributed to the Ekoi or Ejagham people of the Northern Cross River,<ref>{{cite book |title=African Folklore: An Encyclopedia |last1=Carlson |first1=Amanda |chapter=Nsibidi: An Indigenous Writing System |editor-first1=Philip M. |editor-last1=Peek |editor-first2=Kwesi |editor-last2=Yankah |edition=illustrated |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=599 |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-415-93933-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pOcWLGktIYoC |quote=Scholars believe that nsibidi originated among the Ejagham, who use it more extensively than any other group in the region. The spread of ''nsibidi'' may have been a result of Ejagham migrations or their practice of selling the secrets of the Ejagham men's Leopard Society (Ngbe) to their neighbors (the Igbo, Efik, Ibibio, Efut, Banyang, and others).}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Slogar|2007|pp=18–19}}. "''Nsibidi'' is generally thought to have originated among the Ejagham peoples of the northern Cross River region, in large part because colonial investigators found the greatest number and variety of signs among them."</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=Robert Farris |author-link1=Robert Farris Thompson |url=https://archive.org/details/flashofspiritafr00thom |title=Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy |date=1984 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |pages=227, 244 |quote=The Ejagham developed a unique form of ideographic writing, signs representing ideas and called ''nsibidi'', signs embodying many powers, including the essence of all that is valiant, just, and ordered ... The late king of Oban in southern Ejagham told me in the summer of 1978 that ''nsibidi'' emerged in the dreams of certain men who thus received its secrets and later 'presented it outside'.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nwosu |first1=Maik |title=In the Name of the Sign: The ''Nsibidi'' Script as the Language and Literature of the Crossroads |journal=Semiotica |date=2010 |issue=182 |pages=286 |doi=10.1515/semi.2010.061 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/semi.2010.061/html |language=en |issn=1613-3692|url-access=subscription }}</ref> though in the 1900s J. K. Macgregor recorded a native tradition attributing it to the Uguakima or Uyanga section of the Igbo people.<ref name="macgregor">{{Cite journal |last=Macgregor |first=J. K. |date=January–June 1909 |title=Some Notes on Nsibidi. |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449627 |journal=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=39 |pages=209–219 |doi=10.2307/2843292 |jstor=2843292}}</ref><ref name="Diringer"/>{{sfn|Nwosu|2010|p=301 (note 2)}} However, the Nsibidi of the Ejagham people predates Macgregor's stay in the area and he may have been misled by his informants.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=West African Archaeological Association |title=West African Journal of Archaeology |volume=21 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=105 |year=1991}}</ref> A few years later, the anthropologist {{interlanguage link|Percy Amaury Talbot|fr}} was unable to verify the tradition recorded by Macgregor and concluded that the claims of the Ekoi to have created the system were more plausible.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Talbot |first1=Percy Amaury |title=In the Shadow of the Bush |date=1912 |publisher=George H. Doran |location=New York |pages=255, 305 |url=https://archive.org/details/inshadowofbush00perc |quote=Perhaps it is allowable to mention here that the Ekoi claim to have originated this script, of which several hundred characters and a considerable number of complete stories were collected during our stay ... Among the Uyanga also it has unfortunately been impossible to find any trace of the interesting legend alluded to above [that the script originated in this area, as recorded by MacGregor], whereas ... the Ekoi, who certainly have a strong Bantu strain, claim, and with what seems good grounds, to have originated the whole system. At the present day a greater variety of signs seems to exist among the Ekoi of the interior than amid any other tribe.}}</ref>

===Status=== Nsibidi has a wide vocabulary of signs usually imprinted on calabashes, brass ware, textiles, wood sculptures, masquerade costumes, buildings and on human skin. Nsibidi has been described as a "fluid system" of communication consisting of hundreds of abstract and pictographic signs. In the colonial era, Nsibidi was characterized by Talbot as "a kind of primitive secret writing", with Talbot explaining that it was used for messages "cut or painted on split palm stems". Macgregor's view was that "The use of nsibidi is that of ordinary writing. I have in my possession a copy of the record of a court case from a town of Enion [Enyong] taken down in it, and every detail ... is most graphically described". Nsibidi crossed ethnic lines and was a uniting factor among ethnic groups in the Cross River region.<ref name="Slogar">{{cite journal |journal=African Arts |title=Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria: Towards a History of Nsibidi |first=Christopher |last=Slogar |pages=18–29 |volume=40 |issue=1 |date=Spring 2007 |publisher=University of California |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Early+ceramics+from+Calabar,+Nigeria%3A+towards+a+history+of+nsibidi.-a0160331983 |doi=10.1162/afar.2007.40.1.18|s2cid=57566625 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Uses === [[File:Carved Mahogany doors with Nsibidi script at St. Francis Specialist Mortuary Aba, Nigeria.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Contemporary Igbo art: carved mahogany doors covered in Nsibidi symbolism and Christian iconography in Aba, Nigeria]]

Nsibidi spread to other parts of Nigeria, especially the Igbos, who are neighbors to the old Calabar people (the Efik, Ibibio and Annang).

====Court cases – "Ikpe"==== thumb|upright=1.15|alt=An image of a recorded judgement case known as an 'Ikpe' written in Nsibidi from Enyong.|The Ikpe from Enyong written in Nsibidi as recorded by J. K. Macgregor Nsibidi was used in judgement cases known as 'Ikpe' in Enion, an Igbo subgroup, according to Macgregor, who was able to retrieve and translate an Nsibidi record of an ikpe judgement.

<blockquote>The record is of an Ikpe or judgement case. (a) The court was held under a tree as is the custom, (b) the parties in the case, (c) the chief who judged it, (d) his staff (these are enclosed in a circle), (e) is a man whispering into the ear of another just outside the circle of those concerned, (f) denotes all the members of the party who won the case. Two of them (g) are embracing, (h) is a man who holds a cloth between his finger and thumbs as a sign of contempt. He does not care for the words spoken. The lines round and twisting mean that the case was a difficult one which the people of the town could not judge for themselves. So they sent to the surrounding towns to call the wise men from them and the case was tried by them (j) and decided; (k) denotes that the case was one of adultery or No. 20.<ref name="macgregor"/></blockquote>

Nsibidi is used to design the 'ukara ekpe' woven material which is usually dyed blue (but also green and red) and is covered in Nsibidi symbols and motifs. Ukara ekpe cloths are woven in Abakaliki, and then they are designed by male Nsibidi artists in the Igbo-speaking towns of Abiriba, Arochukwu and Ohafia to be worn by members of the Ekpe society. Symbols including lovers, metal rods, trees, feathers, hands in friendship war and work, masks, moons, and stars are dyed onto ukara cloths. The cloth is dyed by post-menopausal women in secret, and young males in public. Ukara was a symbol of wealth and power only handled by titled men and post-menopausal women.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chuku |first=Gloria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3jouPZxPC4C&pg=PA73 |title=Igbo women and economic transformation in southeastern Nigeria, 1900–1960 |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=0-415-97210-8 |page=73}}</ref>

Ukara can be worn as a wrapper (a piece of clothing) on formal occasions, and larger version are hung in society meeting houses and on formal occasions. Ukara motifs are designed in white and are placed on grids set against an indigo background. Some of the designs include abstract symbols representing the Ekpe society such as repeating triangles representing the leopard's claws and therefore Ekpe's power. Ukara includes naturalistic designs representing objects such as gongs, feathers and manilla currency, a symbol of wealth. Powerful animals are included, specifically the leopard and crocodile.<ref name="Slogar"/>

====In popular culture==== Nsibidi plays a central role in the ''Nsibidi Script Series'' of fantasy novels (''Akata Witch'', ''Akata Warrior'', and ''Akata Woman'') written by Nnedi Okorafor.

Nsibidi was the inspiration for the Wakandan writing system shown in the 2018 film ''Black Panther''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Desowitz |first=Bill |date=22 Feb 2018 |title='Black Panther': How Wakanda Got a Written Language |url=http://www.indiewire.com/2018/02/black-panther-wakanda-written-language-ryan-coogler-afrofuturism-1201931252/ |website=IndieWire}}</ref> Nsibidi symbols were also featured in its sequel, ''Wakanda Forever''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-24 |title=How the Nsibidi Script Inspired the Black Panther Movie |url=https://okwuid.com/2023/04/24/how-the-nsibidi-script-inspired-the-black-panther-movie/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424065851/https://okwuid.com/2023/04/24/how-the-nsibidi-script-inspired-the-black-panther-movie/ |archive-date=2023-04-24 |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=okwuid.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Examples of Nsibidi== Below are some examples of Nsibidi recorded by J. K. Macgregor (1909)<ref name="macgregor"/> and Elphinstone Dayrell (1910 and 1911)<ref name="dayrell"/><ref name="dayrellman">{{cite journal|title=Some "Nsibidi" Signs |first=Elphinstone |last=Dayrell |journal=Man |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=10 |year=1910 |pages=113–114 |doi=10.2307/2787339|jstor=2787339 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449500 }}</ref> for ''The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland'' and ''Man''. Both of them recorded symbols from a variety of locations around the Cross River, and especially the Ikom district in what is now Cross River State. Both of the writers used informants to retrieve Nsibidi that were regarded as secret and visited several Cross River communities. {{col-begin}} {{col-3}} ;40px|Nsibidi name written : "Nsibidi" ;20px|Nsibidi welcome : "Welcome" ;20px|Nsibidi talk : "Two men talking" ;20px|Nsibidi door : "Door" ;20px|Nsibidi gun : "Gun" ;20px|Nsibidi crossbow : "Crossbow" {{col-3}} ;20px|Nsibidi calabash : "Calabash" ;20px|Nsibidi big drum : "Big drum" ;20px|Etak Ntaña Nsibidi : "Etak Ntaña Nsibidi — Nsibidi's bunch of plantains. When the head of the house wants plantains he sends this sign to the head boy on the farm."<ref name="dayrellman"/> ;20px|Nsibidi umbrella : "Umbrella" ;20px|Nsibidi toilet soap : "Toilet soap" {{col-3}} ;20px|Nsibidi matchet : "Matchet" ;20px|Nsibidi woman : "Woman" ;20px|Nsibidi man : "Man" ;30px|Nsibidi moon : "Moon" ;30px|Nsibidi tortoise : "Tortoise"<ref name="dayrell"/><ref name="macgregor"/><ref name="dayrellman"/> {{col-end}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/19991023140023/http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/Writing_Systems/Nsibidi.html ''Nsibidi Script'' — Cornell University Library]

Category:Proto-writing Category:Igbo language Category:Cross River languages