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Wolof

West Africa

The Wolof make up around 40% of Senegal’s population, though their language is spoken far more widely, serving as the country’s common tongue across ethnic lines. From the mid-14th to the mid-16th century, the Wolof (Jolof) Empire controlled the trade routes of the Senegal and Gambia river region before fragmenting into smaller successor kingdoms.

Textile & art tradition

Under the Baobab doesn't yet have verified structural research into a Wolof textile or art tradition. This section uses shared app styling for now, rather than guessing.

Did you know?

Wolof is Senegal’s most widely spoken language and serves as a common second language across groups whose first languages differ, even though French remains the official language.

Proverbs (6)

Truth Respect Love Wisdom Work

A man is measured by what he does, not what he says.

Words cost nothing and can be taken back endlessly. Deeds are what remain, so you know a person by what they do, not by what they say.

A beautiful heart is better than a beautiful face.

A face is the first thing people see, but it's the least reliable way to judge someone. Character shows itself more slowly, and it's worth the wait.

Don't try to make someone hate the person he loves, for he will go on loving but he will hate you.

Try to turn someone against a person they love and it rarely touches the love. Their resentment lands on you instead. Loyalty doesn't bend easily under pressure.

Worms that live on mahogany do not know that dates are sweet.

A worm that has only ever lived in one kind of wood can't imagine anything else. If your experience of the world is narrow, you can't know what a wider one holds.

One who knows how to swim does not die in the water.

The proverb's swimmer stands for anyone who learned a skill before needing it. Preparation, built up ahead of time, is what brings a person through a danger that would overwhelm someone unprepared.

If he who buys milk is proud, he who sells it should be prouder.

The proverb sets the buyer's pride beside the seller's. If having the milk is something to be proud of, the one who had it to sell has more reason still.

Names (6)

All Wolof names ›

First names

Wolof for "trustworthy" or "faithful", one of the most common women's given names across Senegal and the wider Wolof-speaking region.

The Wolof form of "Eve"/"Hawa", which symbolizes life, femininity, and motherhood, as it does across several West African cultures that share this Abrahamic-tradition name.

Wolof for "man".

"No one wants (him/her)" — a protective name historically given to a child born after earlier siblings died, meant to make the child seem unwanted to the spirits believed to take infants. Chosen as a pen name by the Senegalese novelist Mariètou Mbaye Biléoma for exactly this traditional meaning.

An honorific meaning "mother" — used as a respectful term or name-prefix for women.

An honorific title for a woman of religious standing or a notable family — roughly "lady, madame". Naturalised into Wolof and wider Senegalese social life as its own title.

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