Note 74 — Chapter IV

It is an old Whydah title dating before the conquest. In the old days, the “Coke” was the head Caboceer in the absence of the Yevogan (Dr. M‘Leod, p. 68). I cannot find the title now. The word is spelt with a complexity of error. The History gives Yavoughah; Mr. Duncan, Avogaw and Avoga; Captain Wilmot, Yavogah; and others Yavogar, showing how easily the H, the R, and the highly nasal N, may be confounded by unpractised ears. The French prefer Jevoghan. Commander Forbes, who realized the fact that Ffon is a monosyllabic tongue, but who did not take the trouble to ascertain the only important part of his discovery, namely, what the syllables are, produced the curious etymology Ee-a-boo-gan. The word is Yevo-gan, “White man’s captain,”—Whydah being held to be a white man’s town. Yevo means a white man, the oibo or oyibo of the Egbas. Ye is a shadow, and vo signifies ripe or red. Gan has been explained as a captain or chief, and must not be confounded with gàn, metal. Again, Commander Forbes and M. Wallon tell us that the P. N. of the Yevogan is Dagbah, Dagbwa, and Dagba. The phrase Da-gba implies “he holds a large gourd or calabash”—Whydah being, as it were, the king’s cornucopia—it was a title which the present man took for himself. Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 117) erroneously explains the word to signify that the King would drink water with him—the strongest mark of friendship.