FORMATION OF WORDS (Vortfarado).

40. To show the manner in which words are formed in Esperanto, it will perhaps be better first to do so in Dr. Zamenhof’s own words, as given on page 248 of his "Fundamenta Krestomatio." He says:—

"I arranged a complete dismemberment of ideas into independent words, so that the whole language, instead of being words in various grammatical forms, consists solely of unchangeable words. If you will take a work written in my language, you will find that each word is always in one constant form, namely, in that form in which it is printed in the dictionary, and that the various grammatical forms, reciprocal relation between words, etc., etc., are expressed by the union of unchanging words. But, because such a construction of language is quite strange to Europeans, I adapted this dismemberment of the language to the spirit of the European languages, so that anyone learning mine from a manual would not suppose that it differed in construction from his own. Take, for example, the word fratino, which in reality consists of three words, frat, in, o. Frat gives the idea of the offspring[9] of one’s parents, in the idea of the female sex, and o the idea of existence (person or thing), hence a noun. These three ideas combined, in Esperanto, make fratino = a sister. The first and last make frato = a brother. The instruction book shows this in the following manner:—Brother = frat-, but because every substantive in the nominative ends in o, therefore frato = brother. For the formation of the feminine, the little word -in- is inserted, therefore fratino = sister. In this way, the dismemberment of the language in no way embarrasses the learner; he does not even suspect that that which he calls a prefix, or suffix, or termination, is really an independent word, which always preserves its meaning, no matter whether it be used at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, or independently, and that every word, with equal right, can be used as a root word or grammatical particle."

Footnote:

[9] It must be remembered that all roots or root-words in Esperanto are either sexless, or have only the sex naturally belonging to the root, unless the feminine suffix—IN—be added. For instance, vir- gives the idea of "man" (male), therefore viro = a man; and we always speak of viro as li = he, because we are sure the noun refers to the male sex. But the root infan- gives only the idea of a "child" (neuter), so, unless we actually know the child is a male, we speak of infano = child as ĝi = it, just as we do in English. When a suffix denoting a person, such as -estr-, -ist-, -ul-, is added to a root, the noun is sexless, or may be presumed to be masculine, unless the feminine -in- be also added.

41. With reference to the above, it will be observed that Dr. Zamenhof calls all combinations of letters,[10] which convey an idea, a "word," as for instance frat, in, o, but in practice the student may find it helpful to use the terms which are defined in pars. [37]–39, and (with the exception of the primary words in the list, [Part V].) to call no

combination a "word" until it receives a grammatical termination.

Footnote:

[10] Not only combinations of letters, but each vowel (as already shown in the case of O), conveys an idea, and is therefore, technically speaking, a word; for instance—

In the table of Correlative Words, Dr. Zamenhof carries out the idea of indefiniteness in the I series, ia, ial, iam, etc.; all, however, be it noted, independent indivisible roots (see par. [147]). In fact ia, ie, io, might be considered as adjective, adverb, and noun, regularly formed from the indefinite word (or grammatical termination as we call it) "i."

42. Grammatical Terminations (gramatikaj finiĝoj).—Every word in Esperanto, except the primary words, has a grammatical termination which shows:—

(a). The part of speech.

(b). Whether the word is singular or plural.

(c). Whether in the nominative or accusative case.

(d). The mood, tense, and participles of a verb.

A list of the grammatical terminations will be found in par. [53].

43. Suffixes.—Suffixes are syllables placed between the root and grammatical termination, adding to the word the idea contained in the suffix as well as that in the root.

A list of suffixes will be found in par. [54].

44. Prefixes.—A prefix is a syllable placed before the root, adding to the root the idea contained in the prefix.

A list of prefixes will be found in par. [55].

45. From the foregoing definitions we see that words in Esperanto are either primary words, or words composed of:—

(a). Roots and grammatical terminations.

(b). Roots, suffixes, and grammatical terminations.

(c). Prefixes, roots, and grammatical terminations.

(d). Prefixes, roots, suffixes, and grammatical terminations.

46. Order of Suffixes.—The grammatical terminations, A, E, I, O, U, AS, IS, OS, US, showing the part of speech and mood and tense of verbs, must end all words (except some of the primary words), the accusative N or plural J being added if

required. Suffixes precede this termination in their natural order. For instance, if we want to say "a tiny female kitten," we commence with the root kat-, giving the idea only of "cat" ; then add -id- (suffix for "offspring of") kat-id- = kitten; then -in- (female suffix) kat-id-in- = kitten female; then -et- (diminutive suffix) kat-id-in-et- = kitten female tiny; we have now got the root and all the suffixes, and we might make the word an adjective by adding A, but we want a noun, so add O; kat-id-in-et-o = a tiny female kitten. If we place -et- after kat-, we commence by speaking of a "tiny cat," for kateto has that meaning, so katetidino would be the "female offspring of a tiny cat." If we reversed the three suffixes, we should get kat-in-et-id-o = offspring of a tiny female cat. This exaggerated example of building up suffixes will show the importance of placing them in their natural order. The student cannot make a mistake if he commences with the root and forms a word of each suffix in succession; for instance, hund-o = a dog, hund-id-o = a puppy, hundid-in-o = a female puppy, hundidin-eg-o = a huge female puppy.

47. Order of Prefixes.—In like manner prefixes must come in their natural order, as:—Sano = health, mal-sano = illness, re-mal-sano = a return of illness, a relapse.

48. Order of roots in compound words.—The principal root is always placed last, and receives the grammatical termination, with or without a suffix. The root of a subordinate word is sufficient without any suffix.

Examples.—Ĉas-gard-ist-o = A gamekeeper, (ĉasi = to hunt, ĉas-aĵo = a thing hunted, game; but it is unnecessary to add the suffix -aĵ- to the subordinate root). Roz-kolora = Rose coloured. Skrib-tablo = Writing table. Lerno-libro = Instruction book, manual (lern-o, the root, made a full word for euphony). Compare: librolerno, book-learning.

Tir-kesto = A drawer (tir-i = to draw, kesto = a chest). Lum-turo = Lighthouse (lum-i = to shine, turo = a tower). Lip-haroj = Moustache (lip-o = a lip, haroj = hairs). Vang-haroj = Whiskers (vang-o = a cheek).

49. When the root should be a noun, adjective, or adverb.—When the joining of the root alone makes the compound word difficult to pronounce, the root is generally made a noun by adding O for the sake of euphony, as:—Lerno-libro = manual, instruction book. If the prefixed root alone would not give the required meaning, the suitable grammatical ending must be added. Estis unu-taga laboro = it was one day’s work. Estis la unua-taga laboro = it was the first day’s work. La supre-citita paragrafo = the above-quoted paragraph. In case of adverbs, N to form the accusative is also added, if direction is implied, as:—Li supren-iris la monton = he ascended the mountain (see [67] (b)).

N.B.—The hyphens are not necessary.

50. The idea conveyed by the root.—In forming a word, the first thing is to find out the exact primary idea contained in the root. Do not think, for instance, that because you happen to know that one of the meanings of cel-o is end, that cel-i will mean to finish or end. The primary idea of cel- is aim, or purpose, therefore cel-i is to aim, to purpose. Do not, in the case of a word with one or more suffixes, think that because you know one of its meanings, you know also the idea conveyed in its root. For instance, kresk-aĵ-o is a plant, but do not at once say that kresk-i is to plant; kreskaĵo comes quite logically from kreski = to grow, therefore kreskaĵo is a thing grown, a growth, a plant. In other words, make certain that you understand the exact meaning of the Esperanto root; and be careful not to be misled by the fact that many English words have a number of different meanings.