A MORPHOSEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF PLACE NAMES IN ASABA QUARTERS

Abstract

This journal focuses on the names of the Asaba quarters. It examines the names of the five quarters that make up Asaba and provides a brief history of the town, including its landmass, population, and the predominant occupations of its ancestors. Despite the numerous studies carried out on Asaba, this area of morphosemantic investigation has received little or no attention, particularly with respect to the names of its quarters. A notable linguistic feature among three of the five quarters is the presence of the morpheme Umu, which means “children” in the Igbo language. Data for the study were obtained through interviews and archival sources (books). The theoretical frameworks adopted for this research are the Conceptual Theory of Meaning as propounded by John Locke (1960) and the Referential Theory of Meaning as propounded by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards (1923). Findings reveal that two of the five quarters’ names express particular ideas in the minds of Asaba natives, while the remaining three refer to the children of their ancestors. The study shows that the original name of Asaba is Aniahaba (present-day Cable Point in Asaba), which translates roughly to “I have arrived.” The five quarters that make up Asaba are said to be the five sons of Ka anyi nye be isi nwa (Nnebisi), and their names are Ezenei, Ugbomanta, Umuagu, Umuaji, and Umuonaje. It is therefore concluded that the names of the Asaba quarters reflect the lineage and descendants of their originator.