By Sani Rafindadi, Katsina
Social media bashing, memes and taunts may have forced Kafur Local Government Area of Katsina State to rename a village, Masu Gindi.
Although the Hausa phrasal homonym, Masu Gindi, literally means “those with genitals”, residents of the area said the words only have the same spellings but different pronunciations.
Worried by the taunts, the caretaker chairman of the local government, Hamza Umar, reportedly set up a committee to search the appropriate name for the village.
The committee finally settled for a new name, Sabon Garin Nasarawa, after weeks of debate.
The village name, located between Sabuwar Kasa and Kafur, has generated cheeky remarks from people, with others even stopping by to pose near the signpost and post the pictures on social media.
DAILY NIGERIAN gathered the village was originally named Masu Gindi owing to the craft the village was famous for. “Gindi is a horse accessory, which the original inhabitants of the village were famous for making,” said a resident of the village.
Commenting on a Facebook post on May 4, 2015, a user, Nura Murtala, also elaborated on the meaning and reason the village was so named: “Gindi may mean “ass” in some context but that is not the point here. Gindi in Hausa may means root, origin, beginning, initial point, starting point, under, and so many others.
“Gindi is also a name given to a special wooden stalk constructed by wood workers which is used as a restraint for horses in Hausa land. The initial settlers of this village in Kafur Local Government of Katsina state were known for this business of manufacturing and selling Gindi as their famous source of income, hence the name “MASU GINDI”, meaning the makers and sellers of Gindi.
“One more thing is that though the words have the same spellings, the pronunciations are different. While the former is pronounced as “Gin, di,” the later is pronounced as “Gin’ di'”. Provided the words are understood and pronounced correctly, there is nothing wrong or odd with the name of this village and Hausawise, it’s a decent name to be proud of.”
