“Nea ade wono na odie, nnye nea okom de no”, translated as ‘the eater is not necessarily the hungry but the owner’.
At social ceremonies in Ghana, I will ask you to pay attention to linguist staff, held mainly by linguists of respective families. Most Ghanaian stool or skin have a linguist. The linguists put the Chief’s or Ebusuapanyin’s whisper into poetic and eloquent language. Linguists carry distinctive staffs embossed with figurative art representing the philosophy of the society they represent. The linguist staffs are created from wood wrapped in Gold or Silver.
This staff means: “Nea ade wono na odie, nnye nea okom de no”, translated as the eater is not necessarily the hungry but the owner. A Ghana Pidgin English version says: “Unput, unchop”. The Akan ethnic group of Ghana mainly use this linguist staff. It symbolizes royalty is only left for royals, not people who thirst for it. Interpreting it from another perspective; it simply means anyone who works hard and gains wealth is entitled to spend their wealth anyhow they want it and not for the hungry one.
Stephen Baidoo is a writer who loves to research about Ghana's past. He brings Ghana's history to life with each unearthed fact and forgotten narrative, transforming dry dates into passionate stories.
