Why not… Combine the power of -ig & -iĝ?!

… It’s sheer madness,  that’s why. But it’s fun, and that’s what we’re here for.

I was trawling through the latest updates to the PMEG (because I know how to party), and found that it’s not entirely unheard of to combine the suffixes -ig & -iĝ in a word. But -ig & -iĝ are sorta like opposites, why don’t they just cancel out?

These suffixes are really useful word-building tools, so if you’re not familiar with how they work, then you can see some examples in my previous post here. Otherwise, here’s quick recap (skip if you’re familiar with -ig & -iĝ):

“g” is pronounced like “g” in “goat”, and “ĝ” is pronounced like “g” in “gem”.

[word]+ig = cause / make happen [word]

For example :

• “morti” = “to die”
• “mortigi” = “to kill” (literally: cause to die)

[word]+iĝ = become [word]

For example:

• “rompi” = “to break (something)”
• “rompiĝi” = “to become broken”  (In English we tend to just keep using “break”, basically something breaking).

So the reason one might expect the suffixes to cancel out is: you’ve got “rompiĝi” = “to become broken”, so when adding -ig (rompiĝigi) you might expect to have made: “to cause something to become broken” which seems just the same as “rompi” (to break something)!

Note that the “i” ending after the suffixes is what makes the final constructed words into verbs.

An example of both -ig & -iĝ being used in the PMEG is: formoviĝigi

What a beautiful beast of a word, eh? Break it down:

1. movi: to move (something)
2. formovi: to move (something) away
3. formoviĝi: to be moved away / to become moved away
4. formoviĝigi: to cause to be moved away / to make (something) moved away

There’s a nuanced difference of meaning between your standard formovi and formoviĝigi.

“Formovi” alone implies a direct causation: we actually moved something away. Whereas there’s room for indirect methods in “formoviĝigi”, because we’re just causing something to end up being moved, to become moved. So the addition of “ig” doesn’t quite return us to the original meaning of “formovi”.

In the PMEG’s example, the moving is accomplished through intimidation, not actual physical movement:

• Rajdmilicanoj formoviĝigis la publikon = Yeomen made the public move away.

Well, we’ve had our fun. But, of course, we must be sensible when talking to new people. It’s usually more clear to just separate off the -ig:

• Rajdmilicanoj igis la publikon formoviĝi

But where’s the excitement there!? I say just talk more slowly and more loudly 😀 ĥeĥe

Esperantic Quest

“Esperantic”! Such a tasty word. I wish we had something like “Englic” as the adjectival form of English. A missed opportunity.

Long ago, I blitzed through the first version of the Esperanto course on Duolingo, and actually found it very useful for cementing vocabulary in my head in a way that helped my understanding and generation of sentences, right from the basics.

It has come to my attention in recent days that the course seems to have undergone a large update, with plenty new and higher level material! So the time has come to undertake some more Duolingo learning, since my vocabulary sucks compared to my grammar understanding.

Is there anyone who would care join the Esperanta Serĉado? A little competition always makes things more fun. Follow me at duolingo.com/AndehR !

Vintro Venas…

Frothing at the Mouth

In the past weeks, a number of perfectly pleasant interactions with completely competent individuals out in the world made me feel very… animated, shall we say. And after regaling friends with my tales of these… Interactions… A lovely little Esperanto word formed in my brain:

• ŝaŭmbuŝa

Besides being gorgeous and bouncy with them lil’ accents and an almost balanced feeling (ŝaŭ … uŝa), it’s just plain fun to say aloud:

• sh + ow (as in “cow”) + m + BOO + sha
• showm-BOO-sha

And I think it’s a neat way of expressing the sentiment of this post’s title idiom:

• ŝaŭmo = froth/foam
• buŝo = mouth
• ŝaŭmbuŝo = a frothing/foaming mouth
• li estis ŝaŭmbuŝa = He was frothing at the mouth (literally: he was froth-mouthed, via the adjectival -a ending)
• ili trasuferis lian ŝaŭmbuŝan rakonton = They suffered through his frothing-mouthed story.

We could even go full adverb here (with the magic adverb-making -e ending) should we need to describe a verb instead of a noun/pronoun:

• ŝaŭmbuŝe = froth-mouthedly / with a frothing mouth / while foaming at the mouth / etc.
• ŝi laŭte kriis ŝaŭmbuŝe = She shouted loudly, foaming at the mouth

This word is an example usage of a word-building formula I discussed on the blog in the distant past, but instead here we’re using an “object root” (ŝaŭmo) as the property “P”. Why not take a trip into my past and see: https://adventuresinesperanto.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/word-building-formula/