Literary etymologies of the ewe names of some fruits

Abstract

Purpose: This study seeks to employ the theory of literary etymology to investigate the Ewe names of ten fruits.

Design/Methodology/Approach: A purposive sample of ten descriptive Ewe fruit names was adopted for the study because literary  etymology favours descriptive names and ten is large enough for phenomenological studies such as this one. The names were analysed  against the nine analytical criteria of literary etymology.

Findings: Findings reveal novel, informative and interesting nuances behind each name and show that conscious reflection rather than  random arbitrariness informs the giving of these names.

Research Limitation/ Implication: The theoretical framework of literary  etymology employed in investigating the names in this study can only be used to analyse descriptive names, like the ones chosen for this  study.

Practical Implications: The importance of this study is that it allows one to acquire relevant information such as the history  behind the names, evidence-based reflection, creativity, and comprehension of the deep meanings behind these common everyday fruit  names that could be taken as ordinary names with nothing worth discovering. Finally, the study demonstrates that literary etymology can  be used to examine common nouns such as fruit names.

Social Implications: Findings of this study have shown that even everyday  words are loaded with meaning and understanding these deeper meanings will improve our social and communicative skills.

Originality/Value/ Novelty: This study is but one of the very few that has employed the theory of literary etymology to investigate  common names and proves its versatility as a framework to analyse all types of names.