June 9, 2026
Greetings!
I am Harry Agina with the Afro-Scope Project. As I introduce our philosophical and poetic Etymologist, Asmau Suleiman for today’s edition of AfroLinguistic Etymology Titbits, I wanno remind you of the essence of the series.
(1) It’s about the origin and history of words and slangs, generally in every language of the world. But, since the English language is the most dominant or most spoken of all the global languages, we use it as our rallying center, excuse my temporary want of a better verb. And then, as I use the phrase rallying center, it behooves me to mention, as always, that English is actually comprised of many, if not all the languages of the world, including several words and slangs of African languages.
(2) The last sentence above is the second reason for this series. We are AfroCentric (Africa-centered) in mandate. So, we give you words and slangs of African languages that have made their way into the English language dictionary. We inform you of their native origins and their history, or the circumstances under which they emerged and evolved. That’s what ETYMOLOGY is all about.
Importantly, we also take your attention to some African words and slangs that are gradually getting popular informally, which are bound to make their way into formal English dictionary. Now, without further ado, here’s Asmau Suleiman with today’s AfroLinguistic Etymology for ya:
Hello everyone, I am Asmau Suleiman with the Afro-Scope Project, with another edition of “AfroLinguistic Etymology Titbits By Asmau Suleiman.”
Some words do not merely carry meaning.
They carry memory.
They carry civilization.
They carry a people’s philosophy about life itself.
And few African words are as profound, poetic, and spiritually powerful as the Akan word:
Sankofa.
Sankofa comes from the Akan people of Ghana.
It is often translated as:
“Go back and retrieve it.”
Or more deeply:
“It is not wrong to go back for what has been forgotten.”
The word is commonly broken into three Akan components:
San — “return”
Ko — “go”
Fa — “take, fetch, or retrieve”
Together, Sankofa becomes a philosophy of looking back in order to move forward wisely.
A philosophy that says progress without memory is dangerous.
That a people who forget their roots risk losing themselves.
Sankofa is represented by one of Africa’s most beautiful cultural symbols:
The Sankofa bird.
A graceful bird whose feet face forward while its head turns backward to retrieve an egg from its back.
The symbolism is breathtaking:
The body moves into the future.
But the head looks to the past.
Because wisdom, identity, healing, and direction sometimes live behind us.
And the egg the bird retrieves symbolizes something precious:
knowledge,
culture,
memory,
heritage,
and the future itself.
In African philosophy, Sankofa is not about becoming trapped in the past.
It is about reclaiming what was lost:
language,
culture,
dignity,
history,
manners,
wisdom,
stories,
and ancestral memory.
We see Sankofa everywhere in African life, even today.
An African family may relocate abroad in search of greener pastures, yet still insist on teaching their children their native language at home.
Parents thousands of miles away still cook traditional soups, pound traditional spices, import African foodstuff, wear traditional clothes on special occasions, and tell stories from home so their children will never forget where they came from.
That is Sankofa.
It is the reason many Africans in the diaspora still long to hear their mother tongue spoken…
Still miss the smell of home cooking…
Still preserve names, greetings, songs, and traditions for future generations..
Even for future reference…
Because deep down, they understand something important:
A tree without roots cannot stand for long.
Sankofa also exists in ordinary human behavior and upbringing.
For example, a child who reaches an age where he should know better than to ignore elders without greeting them may be corrected and told, in essence, to “go back and fetch” good manners.
That is Sankofa…
A young person who forgets respect, humility, patience, or discipline may be encouraged to return to the values they were raised with.
That too is Sankofa…
A young woman who realizes she never learned certain traditional values — cooking, hospitality, patience, home management, respect, or how to care deeply for her family — may be encouraged to “go back and fetch it.”
That too is Sankofa…
Not as an insult,
but as a reminder that some wisdoms are worth recovering.
The same applies to a young man who forgets responsibility, discipline, protection, leadership, or respect for others.
Sankofa teaches that maturity sometimes requires returning to learn the values we overlooked, abandoned, or never fully appreciated.
A community that revives forgotten traditional dances, proverbs, hairstyles, names, or cultural practices is practicing Sankofa as well.
Because Sankofa teaches that looking back is not weakness.
Sometimes it is wisdom.
Over time, Sankofa traveled far beyond Ghana.
Today, the word appears in African studies, Pan-African movements, Black cultural restoration movements, education, literature, art, and global activism.
For many people across the African diaspora, Sankofa became more than a word…
It became a mission…
A call to reconnect with erased history…
A reminder that modernity should not require cultural amnesia.
And perhaps that is why Sankofa feels so timeless.
Because every generation eventually realiz–
ASMAU SULEIMAN
