EXTRACTS FROM MELZIAN’S BINI DICTIONARY: PLANT NAMES IN EDO LANGUAGE (original) (raw)

Edo [Bini] language is spoken in Oredo, Orhionmwon, and Ovia Local Government Areas of Edo State, Nigeria. Few reports have been dedicated solely to the vocabulary of plant names in Edo language and the available records are scattered in different checklists with varying levels of comprehensiveness. The 233-page "Bini-English Dictionary" by Hans Melzian published in 1937 contains a rich collection of Edo plant names complemented with corresponding scientific names equivalents. In this study, an inventory of Edo plant names in the dictionary was collated, characterized based on habit, native origin and utility and compared with five existing Edo plant names checklists for congruency. A total of 309 plants were inventoried out of which only 284 plants (91.9%), distributed in 67 families could be verified to known scientific taxa. The top four most prevalent families were: Fabaceae 55 (17.8%), Dioscoreaceae 19 (6.4%), Annonaceae and Malvaceae 15 (8.5%). The frequency of distribution based on growth form categories was: trees 190 (63.5%), vines 43 (14%), shrubs 24 (9.4%), herbs 26 (8.6%), lianas 6 (2%), grasses 4 (1.3%) and ferns 3 (1%). Congruency between Edo plant names listed in Melzian dictionary with other checklist by authors revealed that Dalziel had the highest with 234 plants or 75.7%, followed by Kennedy 184 plants (60%), Keay 120 plants (38.8%), Irvine 80 plants (25.9%), Gill 60 plants (19.4%) and Olorode 49 plants (15.9%). Majority (82%) of the plants are native plants and only 33 were of exotic origin. This finding suggests that the Edo plant names listed in the Melzian's dictionary may have been unknown and unavailable as a reference resource to other authors until now. The checklist generated from this study therefore, spotlights Melzian's contribution of plant names in Edo language as well as contribute additional names to the existing pool. It also highlights the status of some plants in Benin City in the 1930s, while providing a historical benchmark for evaluating new plant introductions, the fate of others that may have become rare or probably extinct due to overexploitation or habitat loss. Overall, the checklist provides a veritable preliminary template on which a more comprehensive plant name vocabulary in Edo language could be developed in the future.