Ervwvu: etymology and the aesthetics of beauty in Urhobo cosmology

Abstract

Eruvwu is Urhobo word meaning beauty which is a subject that attracts diverse views, meaning and commentaries. There seem to be an agreement however, that one of the objectives of aesthetics is the search for beauty or the interpretation of whatbeautiful is and what it is not. Beauty being a subjective issue makes aesthetics an inherently controversial field. The concept of beauty differs from one culture or environment to another. The requisites of what is beautiful are predicated upon values that could be historical, socio-cultural or politically interpreted, depending from which perspective or angle the word is viewed from. The paper applies a purely descriptive and qualitative method of research. It is archored on Immanuel Kant’s concept of aesthetics which holds that in all judgements by which we describe anything as beautiful, we allow no one to be of another opinion. This paper examines the word Eruvwe (beauty) from the Urhobo religio/cultural perspective and focuses on the moral conception of the word as well as its etymology of the values which have sharpened the Urhobo aesthetical judgment up to date.