Questions tagged [etymology]
For questions about the origin of words.
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The relation between "love" and "sun"
As much I know there are a kind of relation between love and sun in some languages. For example, in Persian, we say exactly the same word for both of them: مهر means sun, sunlight, love.
In Turkish, ...
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El kiu vorto venas la vorto "spegulo"?
Ĉu ĝi venas el la Germana vorto "spiegel"? La vorto estas eta konfuzanta al mi pro la finaĵo "-ulo". Komence, ĝi iĝas al mi pensi de la sufikso "-ulo".
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Etymology of kato and kata
According to the Wiktionary, kato originates from French, Italian, Latin, etc... and kata comes from kato + a. But how can we say that it is not the opposite? Can we say that the root kat- comes from ...
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Ĉu ekzistas etimologia vortaro de Esperanto?
Lernante Esperanto, mi ofte povas memori Esperantajn vortojn, afiksojn kaj radikojn pli bone, se mi scias ilia(j)n origino(j)n. Ĉu ekzistas etimologia vortaro de Esperanto? Se jes, ĉu ekzistas reta ...
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What are origins of basic suffixes?
Is there an explicit reason for -o, -a, -e, -i? The longer ones vaguely remind me of similar words/constructs in different languages that influenced Esperanto, but the very basic ones seem completely ...
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De kio estas la etimologio de "saluton"?
Saluton estas mallonga por mi donas al vi saluton, kiel bonan tagon, ĉu ne? Angle, vi ne povas diri I give you hello, do kio saluton signifas sole? (Mi pardonpetas por la malbona gramatiko, mi ne ...
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What is the origin of the suffix ING?
Which language is the origin of the suffix ING? Wiktionary doesn't mention its etymology and I can't find a language with a similar suffix.
De kiu lingvo venas la sufikso ING? Vikivortaro ne mencias ...
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How often are new loans fully integrated into Esperanto?
The borrowing of vocabulary is part and parcel of natural language evolution. Although Esperanto is now without doubt a full living language, it is nevertheless somewhat unusual as it is still spoken ...
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De kie venas la vorto «ĉikani»?
Ĉu iu scias la etimologion de «ĉikani», kaj el kiu lingvo ĝi venas, ktp?
Mi suspektis, ke ĝi eble venas de la japana vorto 痴漢 (chikan), kiu signifas pli-malpli "molestanto", kaj ĝia signifo do ...
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Kiu estas la origino de la ĉapelitaj literoj?
Ĉapelitaj literoj ĉ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ estas sagaca rimedo, por ke ĉiu Esperanta sono estu skribita per ununura litero (unu sono, unu litero). Mi rimarkis, ke ĉ kaj ŝ havas la saman prononcon kiel la ĉeĥaj č ...
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What is the origin of the word "pilko"?
Pilko isn't similar to the word in any other language I know. What is its origin?
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Why "renkontiĝo" is more common than "renkonto" for saying "a meeting"?
Renkonti is a transitive verb. For speaking about the act or the event of meeting, it would be shorter to use Renkonto instead of Renkontiĝo. Why is the word second more common?
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What is the origin of the word "pigra"?
Zamenhof coined this word, but I don't understand how he came up with it. I only find it similar to pig in English and gras (fat) in French, but it is maybe accidental.
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What is the full sentence of "fek' al tio"?
The full sentence of Bonan tagon is "Mi deziras al vi bonan tagon". Is there something similar for Fek' al tio, where some elements of the original sentence are removed?
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De kio “saluton” estas la rekta objekto?
"Saluton" finiĝas per "n" sekve saluton estas rekta objekto, sed la rekta objekto de kio?
"Saluton" ends with an "n" thus it's a direct object, but the direct object of what?
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Kial "mirtelo" kaj ne "blubero"?
Eble tio estas stulta demando, sed mi konas la vorton de la sveda blåbär, de la germana Blaubeere kaj de la angla blueberry kaj ili ŝajnas tiom simplaj. "Mirtelo" venas el la franca, mi pensas. Ĉu ie ...
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De kie venas la vorto "Barato" por angle India?
Ĉiu vorto havas iun originon — iu iam elektis ĝin.
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Why "nigra truo" is a concept that uses two words instead of one?
Nigra truo is an adjective next to a noun. It can be any hole that happens to be black. I was surprised to find that this "word" is in ReVo and is used for speaking about the cosmic object named black ...
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How "prifajfi" / "fajfi pri" became to mean "ne zorgi pri"?
Some people are using prifajfi and fajfi pri without the idea of whistling. They use these words in the sense of ne zorgi pri or ignori.
For example:
Mi fajfas pri la Greka lingvo
means
Mi ne ...
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The number billion ("miliardo")
From Duolingo:
Dek, cent, mil, miliono, miliardo
Ten, hundred, thousand, million, billion
Why is billion miliardo and not biliono? Trillion is triliono.
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Why are so many Esperanto word roots derived from French?
As stated in esperanto.net FAQ
About 75 % of Esperanto's vocabulary comes from Latin and Romance languages (especially French), about 20 % comes from Germanic languages (German and English), and ...
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What is the origin of the chess-related vocabulary in Esperanto?
The Wikipedia article about Chess uses these words for the different pieces of the game: Reĝo, Damo, Turo, Ĉevalo, Kuriero, Peono. Who first coined these terms?
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Kial estas "malvarm" en "malvarmumo"?
Malvarmumo estas malsano kaŭzita de viruso. Se oni pecetigas la vorton, oni povas vidi "malvarm" kaj "umo". Kiel tiu malsano rilatas al malvarmeco?
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Are there words in Esperanto that are occuring only in Esperanto and aren't drawn from other languages?
This question asks for Esperanto words taken from non-Indo-European languages. Here I want to know: Are there Esperanto words that are not taken from any previously existing language, but are created ...
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Are there any Esperanto words derived from words from non-Indo-European languages?
Esperanto is based on Romance, Germanic, and Slavonic languages; all of them are branches of Indo-European languages.
Are there words in Esperanto that come from other language families? What are ...
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What is the origin of "Krokodili"?
It seems that krokodili means when two Esperantists speak with each other in a language other than Esperanto, what is the origin of this use?
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What is the origin of "Usono"?
What is the origin of the country-name "Usono"? The online Plena Illustrita Vortaro de Esperanto gives the word as Uson-o, so "Uson" is the root. But what is this derived from? At face value, it would ...
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What is the origin of the word "kabei"?
The verb "kabei" means to leave the Esperanto community. What is the source of this word?
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Why does "glaciaĵo" mean "ice cream"?
Given the meaning of the suffix "-aĵ", that is, "a concrete thing", and the examples usually associated with it, like (random ones from PMEG):
utila → utilaĵo = (konkreta) afero, kiu estas utila
...
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What is the origin of the word "frazo"?
Does the word "frazo" comes from the English word "phrase"? Or is there a closer word in an other Latin language which "frazo" is a derivative of?
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What is the origin of the word "mojosa"?
How did this relatively new word come into use? Is it accepted as an official Esperanto word?
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Where does the verb "farti" come from?
As far as I know, the words' roots in Esperanto come from non-constructed languages (this is what Wikipedia says about it).
As I speak English, Russian and some French and know a bit of Latin, I ...
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What percentage of Esperanto words come from each major language family?
My understanding is that Esperanto's vocabulary relies primarily on Indo-European languages. Here are a few of the major families within that group:
Italic (including Latin, Romance)
Germanic (...
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