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Borrowed words: Itage - Yoruba, Etagere - French, Stage - English By Anago James Akeem Osho

Itage, pronounced e-t-ar-g-eh! Is a Yoruba word of French origin. It means stage in the Yoruba sense. Even the word stage in English is of French origin (estage), derived from Etagere.

According to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dictionary, 11th edition; ETAGERE is a piece of furniture consisting of a piece of open shelves for displaying small objects and sometimes having an enclosed cabinet at the base.

In Yorubaland, the word Itage (from the French word Etagere) means a raised platform where activities take place e.g, acting, dancing, singing, display of products, etc. for the audience to view.

The word etagere became more popular in 1840. The trans Atlantic slave trade and the relationships between the French and Yoruba Artists would have facilitated the word in the land. Theatre, art, and culture is inseparable in Yorubaland. In fact, Yoruba epistemology and culture survived the trans Atlantic slave trade.

In the Americas, where enslaved Africans of Yoruba origin were taken, the undaunted thirst for the homeland and the synchretism of Yoruba culture and the colonists helped in the preservation of the Yoruba culture there.

Ere Ori Itage, literarily means stage play. The complete stage art is called theatre art which comprises all the different aspect of the theatre. These aspects are found in the activities of the traditional palaces and communities like Ife, Oyo, etc.

Theatre art is traditionally inculcated in the everyday life of the Yorubas of West Africa and diaspora. It is exhibited in their folklores, festivals, naming ceremony, chieftaincy ceremony, burial ceremony, etc.

Theatre arts or stage art in West Africa is not complete without the travelling theatre of the Yorubas. The film industry in Nigeria was an offshoot of the ere Ori Itage. The film industry in Nigeria metamorphosised from the stage art, to the cinema, then to home video and the height it is today.

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