Ọbatala

Etymology
It likely originated as a title for the leader of the Mega-House, a polity of the ancient town of during the 9th-11th centuries AD. One of these leaders during the 11th century AD later rose as the head of all the mega-houses in  and established the  confederacy, a precursor to the Ife kingdom, and served as the chief priest of the deity. It was this specific "Ọbàtálá" that became deified as the divinity. The term matches similar structures with titles of chiefs and legendary figures who likely lived as fellow Mega-house leaders and chiefs during that period, such as, the head of the house, , the head of the  house, and , the head of the  house. They served as chiefs under the political leadership of the Ọbàtálá, the ruler of the Ìdèta house that encompassed these three minor houses.
 * Also see other titles used at the time,, , , and.

The first part of the term comes from, and the concluding syllable likely coming from , thus likely originating from may come from the phrase

Proper noun

 * 1) the title of the leader of the ancient  mega-house polity, . One of these leaders was later made king of the  confederacy of houses and deified as the deity Ọbàtálá
 * 2) the legendary leader of ancient  between the 9th-11th centuries AD, deified as an orisha
 * , a powerful and divinity of creation, the sky, heaven, purity, the creator of the Earth (beginning with the town of ). He is the oldest of the orisha, with the term orisha originally referring to him. He is the husband of the orisha  (Mawu in other West African religions).
 * 1) * He is often associated with purity, relating to the symbols of and.