In Gbaya, the notion of darkness (metaphorically as “remain dark regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit,” i.e. “ignorance”) in 1 Corinthians 12:1 is emphasized with ndiyiŋ, an ideophone referring to the darkness of the last moments of the day before nightfall.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
See also darkness.
