A few days ago, I was able to get a translation from a Portuguese woman of the item in Duarte Pacheco Pereira’s “Esmeraldo De Situ Orbis” that speaks of the Licosaguou. I was interested in the name Licosaguou, and didn’t rule out the possibility of it having a meaning in Portuguese. She informed me that the passage spoke of a king named Licosaguou and that the land he ruled was also named after him, and also, Licosaguou was not a Portuguese name.
Looking closer at the name Licosaguou, after considering the point that the land of the Licosaguou was named after him, my post about ‘Isago’ on pre-colonial maps being the historical Yoruba hero Sango came to mind. It speaks of the Sango’s domain being named after him. But how does “Licosaguou” relate to Sango?
I dissected the name, separating the ‘Lico’ from the ‘Saguou’ and took into consideration that the /c/ in Lico may actually be a cedilla ‘c’ /ç/. The cedilla is a letter used by the Portuguese, Spaniards, and few others. The ç make both the /s/ and /z/ sounds of the English language and it is only followed by the vowels a, o, and u. So the ‘Lico’ may have actually been Liço which is Liso in English. Then it came to me that the Liso was probably the Yoruba title “Lisa”, also known as Onisa or Olisa. The ‘Lisa’ title is a powerful title and is ranked second after the “Oba” title. I read that it is also one of the 6 Ogboni Society titles. Some describe the Lisa as a Prime Minister.
What about the ‘Saguou’? Of course, taking into consideration that Pereira wrote the name in his Portuguese phonology and the possibility of an error in spelling it is quick simple so get the name Sango from Saguou. Let’s also keep in mind that Sango is also spelled in various ways: Sago, Sagoe, Sango, Shago, and Shango.
So the mysterious Liçosaguou, from my estimation, is likely Lisa Sango otherwise known as Sango the thunder god, who was neighbor to the Ogane.
By Chibuzo Ihuoma
Source: (https://www.facebook.com/groups/PreNigeria/permalink/3641930952580701/)
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