òtanjele

Meanings

1. 1.

   galena; bright blue glittering imported hard stone, stocked by merchants originally but retailed by petty women traders or men retailers in small bits, size depending on the worth, used as cosmetic. The chip is crushed on a clean hard surface, usually a stone kept specially for it, and ground to fine powder, and kept in special small containers with a narrow neck, with a stick left inside the container allowing the tip to show over the brim of the container. The woman shakes the container to have the stick properly stained by the powder, then applies a narrow strip of the dark green powder to each of the lower eyelids (< Hausa)

   Noun