Did you know that our fingers have various names and meanings in different cultures? In this article we shall learn about the names of our fingers and their meanings in Ashanti culture.
The Thumb, which is the first of the fingers, signifies will power. It indicates the approval of “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” that point to the self in a moment of personal pride. In Twi it is called Kokroboti. This finger is deemed to be the oldest of all the other fingers.
The Index finger is the authority finger. Gestures made with this finger gives information that indicates silent directives. For instance, when one wags his finger it depicts disapproval. This finger is called Akyerεkyerεkwan (pointer of directions) in Twi because it comes in readily and handy when pointing out directions to a person.
The third finger is the Identity finger. In Twi it is called the Nsateahene (king of all the fingers). This was coined from the fact that it is the most prominent and tallest of all the fingers.
The Ring finger is the creativity finger. It is the least independent of the fingers, making it difficult to operate as a single unit. This finger is called Ahenniakyire (directly follows the king) because it follows directly after the identity finger.
The Little finger is the relationship finger. It is located farthest from the thumb. This finger expresses man’s attitudes toward personal and sexual relationships. In Twi, it is called Akokɔbεto (hen will lay an egg) because in Ghana, the little finger is used to check whether a hen is ready to lay an egg or not.
| Kokroboti | Thumb | |
| Akyerεkyerεkwan | Index finger | |
| Nsateahene | Identity finger | |
| Ahenniakyire | Ring finger | |
| Akokɔbεto | Little finger |
These are the names and meanings of ours fingers. I hope you learnt something new from the article. Let’s meet again in the next article.
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I think that there are appropriate twi spellings for these names eg. Sap)n not sarpong. 3dweso and not Ejisu. Akyeampon and not Acheampong/Akyeampong.
My suggestion is that you try and introduce a row or column where words are first spelt appropriately. Then you can have how the Europeans spelt it as it has come to stay and then etc. If I am learning Asanti twi, dw(o,e,i) not the same as j(o,e,i).
Aside that there are alphabets that are not part of the twi alphabets and this distinction if not drawn will compromise on the true language you seek to teach and it’s quality. Thank you
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