Adòdì

Definition

Short Definition

[Precolonial] Men who love/have intimacy with men; queer man.

Full Definition

[Precolonial] A historical, descriptive term translating literally to men who engage in anal intimacy. It was traditionally used to acknowledge and identify queer men, specifically those who experience romantic or physical intimacy with other men.

Example

He travels to a land filled only with adodi, where she falls in love with an ado.

Usage Notes

Appears in praise poetry and oral tradition; neutral/historical. While European missionaries first wrote it down in the 19th century to translate the Bible (often weaponizing it), oral praise poetry (Oriki) and Ifa divination texts place its usage much earlier.

Pronunciation

/ Ah-doh-dee / / Ah-doh /

Origin & Etymology

Western Nigeria. In one ancient story, Yemayá arrives in a town populated entirely by adodi (men who love men). Rather than rejecting them, she integrates herself, becoming their patron and fiercely defending them, even falling in love with an ado. In another, she divorces her husband Orula, whom she discovers is an ado, though variants of this legend say that Orula left Yemayá for the hyper-masculine, iron-wielding warrior Orisha Ogún. The word adòdì (and its shortened form, ado) is deeply embedded in the Lucumí and Santería religious traditions of Cuba, it means the word had to exist in West Africa before those enslaved people were taken.

Related Words

References

• Cosmological Queerness Across the Yoruba Disapora - AAIHS
• https://www.aaihs.org/cosmological-queerness-across-the-yoruba-diaspora/

Définition

Définition courte

[précolonial] Homme queer.

Définition complète

[précolonial] Un terme historique et descriptif utilisé traditionnellement pour identifier les hommes queer ayant une intimité avec d’autres hommes.

Exemple

Il voyage vers une terre remplie uniquement d'adodi, où elle tombe amoureuse d'un ado.

Notes d'usage

On le trouve dans la poésie de louange et la tradition orale ; son usage est neutre/historique. Bien que les missionnaires européens l’aient consigné par écrit pour la première fois au XIXe siècle afin de traduire la Bible (l’utilisant souvent comme une arme), la poésie de louange orale (Oriki) et les textes de divination Ifa attestent de son usage bien plus ancien.

Prononciation

/ A-do-di / / A-do /

Origine et étymologie

Western Nigeria. In one ancient story, Yemayá arrives in a town populated entirely by adodi (men who love men). Rather than rejecting them, she integrates herself, becoming their patron and fiercely defending them, even falling in love with an ado. In another, she divorces her husband Orula, whom she discovers is an ado, though variants of this legend say that Orula left Yemayá for the hyper-masculine, iron-wielding warrior Orisha Ogún. The word adòdì (and its shortened form, ado) is deeply embedded in the Lucumí and Santería religious traditions of Cuba, it means the word had to exist in West Africa before those enslaved people were taken.

Mots associés

Références

• Cosmological Queerness Across the Yoruba Disapora - AAIHS
• https://www.aaihs.org/cosmological-queerness-across-the-yoruba-diaspora/