Verda Drako- Esperanto Club Notes and English-Esperanto Course

Esperanto ASAP- Chapter 14(1)

^CAPITRO 14 (DEK KVAR) Parto 1

Affixes -Ig- and -I^g- / Afiksoj -Ig- and -I^g-

1). -Ig-

This is a very important affix which gives the meaning to a word of 'causing'. As an independent word igi means 'to cause'.

Adjectives can be converted into causative verbs using -ig- e.g.

Intransitive verbs (i.e. verbs which cannot take an object e.g. appear, die, go) are converted into causative (and hence transitive) verbs by -igi- e.g.

Thus:

Akvo bolas je cent gradoj water boils at 100º Intransitive

Mi boligis la akvon por fari teon I boiled the water to make tea Transitive

Some authors state that verbs in Esperanto can only be transitive or intransitive. This is not in fact true (for example Don Lord in La Brita Esperantisto for May 1996 p.86 lists eighty verbs which can be either according to context). I think it is better to consider whether a verb is causative or not in the context.

In fact it is possible to add -ig- to an already transitive verb to give it a sense of 'to cause to' e.g.

Christopher Wren built St Paul's Cathedral.

(In fact I doubt whether he got his hands dirty! The builders built it, Wren caused it to be built)

La laboristoj konstruis la katedralon, Wren konstruigis ^gin.

(The workers built the cathedral, Wren had it built)

2). -I^g-

I^g- is an affix which gives the meaning of 'becoming'. We have already met i^gi as as an independent word meaning 'to become'.

It can be added to adjectives or nouns to form verbs e.g.

With adjectives:

With nouns:

It can also give a verb a sense of 'becoming' e.g.

stari to stand stariˆgi to become standing, to stand up

sidi to be seated sidiˆgi to become seated, to sit down

and also convert a transitive verb into an intransitive one e.g.

trovi^gi is a very common word and is often used almost as an alternative for 'there is' e.g.

Estas malsanulejo en tiu strato

Trovi^gas malsanulejo en tiu strato.

Both mean 'There is a hospital in that street'

mal/san/ul/ej/o: place (ej) for people (ul) who are the opposite (mal) of healthy (san) !

More affixes

3). -Ec-

blanka	white	blankigi	to whiten
sana	healthy	sanigi	to make well, cure	E: sanitary
pura	clean	purigi	to make clean, cleanse
varma	warm	varmigi	to make warm, to warm

morti	to die	mortigi	to cause to die, kill
timi	to fear	timigi	to cause to fear, to frighten
boli	to be boiling	boligi	to cause to boil, to boil something

ru^ga	red	ru^gi^gi	to become red, blush	F: rouge
seka	dry	malseki^gi	to get wet	F: sec
sana	healthy	sani^gi	to get well

edzo	husband	edzi^gi	to become a husband. marry
edzino	wife	edzini^gi	to become a wife, marry
fian^co	fiancé	fian^ciˆ^i	to become engaged (for a man)

komenci	to start something	komenci^gi	to start, be started
naski	to bear, give birth	naski^gi	to become born
trovi	to find	trovi^gi	to become found

This affix forms an abstract noun e.g.

4). -ism-

This suffix has a similar use to English and indicates a belief or doctrine e.g.

5). -Em-

This suffix indicates a tendency or inclination e.g.

6). Names of Countries

Unusually for Esperanto (perhaps uniquely) Esperanto is in as much of a mess as other languages when it comes to naming countries.

Firstly we have a different system for naming countries of the Old World (Eurasia) and the New. In the Old World races are well established and they are the basis for the names. The countries are obtained by adding the affix -uj- or -lando to the race. (-uj- itself means a receptacle).Remember throughout that a capital letter is only used for the name of the country itself and not for the inhabitants, languages, derived adjectives etc.

bona	good	boneco	goodness
amiko	friend	amikeco	friendship
ebla	possible	ebleco	possibility

Budho	Buddha	Budhismo	Buddhism
Kristano	Christian	Kristanismo	Christianity
kanibalo	cannibal	kanibalismo	cannibalism

paroli	to talk	parolema	talkative
kvereli	to quarrel	kverelema	quarrelsome
mensogi	to lie	mensogema	untruthful
^spari	to save	^sparema	thrifty

anglo	Englishman	Anglujo	England	skoto	Scot	Skotlando	Scotland
norvego	Norwegian	Norvegujo	Norway	polo	Pole	Pollando	Poland
finno*	Finn	Finnlando	Finland	japano	Japanese	Japanujo	Japan

Extremely unusual- an Esperanto root with a double consonant (finn/-). Double consonants only occur normally in compound words e.g. Pol/land/o.

A complication is that some country names are already accepted internationally with the ending -land. These keep the ending in Esperanto and then the inhabitant is formed by adding the -an- suffix (member) e.g.

Nederlando	Netherlands	nederlandano	Dutchman
Irlando	Ireland	irlandano	Irishman
Islando	Iceland	islandano	Icelander

The position has been made more complex by a school of thought which replaces the affix -ujo- by -io. This was not supported by Zamenhof himself but it has become popular of late (even the main organization for Esperanto in Britain is now the Esperanto-Asocio de Britio.) Some people feel that this is only acceptable for countries where many different races occur e.g. (the former) Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Bulgaria (usually ending in -ia in English). Thus Jugoslavio, Slovakio and Bulgario. Nowadays, of course, on this basis Britain qualifies for Britio.

In the New World races are much less homogeneous and hence the inhabitants are named from the countries by the suffix -an.

Nov-zelando	New Zealand	nov-zelandano	New Zealander
Kanado	Canada	kanadano	Canadian
Usono	USA	usonano	American
Ni^gerio	Nigeria	ni^geriano	Nigerian

A final complication to naming is that some countries are named after names in their own language- often not well known internationally e.g.

*According to some instead of the more usual hindo Hinda Unio

kimro	Welshman	Kimrujo	Wales	Welsh: Cymru
kartvelo	Georgian	Kartvelujo	Georgia
bharatano	Indian	India	Bharato*