Novial/AIL Alphabetical List of Hard Words

Alphabetical List
In this list are collected a certain number of words that present difficulties of some kind or other with regard to their use in the I.A.L. It must be reserved for the future to give a complete dictionary of the kind foreshadowed in one of my earliest articles in Progreso: it should contain the forms actually in use in national languages with discussions of their merits and weaknesses from an interlinguist's point of view. Provisionally useful information may be found in Ido dictionaries (best L. H. Dyer's Ido-English Dict, and English-Ido Dict. (I. Pitman and Sons, London, 1924) and in Radicarium Directiv del Lingue International Occidental (Tallinn, 1925). Of less use are G. Peano, Vocabulario Commune ad linguas de Europa Internationale (Ventimiglia, n.d.). Fortunately the greater part of the necessary vocabulary is easier to settle than the words enumerated below.

ADI add, aditione. - Adie good-bye.

ALME (S P, rare I alma) seems the best for `soul'. F âme cannot be used, because am- is wanted for `love'. Nor would (L) I anima be good, as the derivative animal must be used for `animal.' E soul: the diphthong ou must be avoided, and simplified to sol- it would create conflict with sol `alone' I S P, F seul, E in solitude, solitary. D seele conflict with sele `cell.'

BASE, BASI. Ido distinguishes basa (adj) bass (with compounds like basvoco, basreliefo, basklasa) and bazo base, basis, foundation, bottom. I see no inconvenience in having the adj basi by the side of the sb base `basis,' though this latter form may then also mean a man or a woman with a bass voice. Note that when E base means morally base, it must be rendered in other ways: shamindi, nonnobli, etc. No verb should be formed from the sb base: `to base something on' is funda or apoga.

DARF (? DARFE) D may, am permitted. - deve ought, have the duty of; devo duty. - deba owe, be under obligation; debatum debt.

DESERTI: adj `barren, uninhabited'; hence the n. desertum `desert, wilderness.' No conflict possible with vb deserte `run away from,' whence sb deserto (or desertione) `desertion' (-o could not here be m. of the first-mentioned adj, as there is no need to talk of an uninhabited person). Desert in the sense of `what is deserved' is merite. For dessert (part of meal) it is best to say desere (t mute in F D Sc).

DI `day' (24 hours) is better than E day or D tag on account of the days of the week, F I -di: lundi, mardi, merkurdi, jodi, venerdi, saturdi (the last E, as F samedi attains fewer people; I sabato, S sabado give sabate for the Jewish holiday). Sundi E D, no good Romanic form. Medidi `noon.' Jorne (F jour, I giorno) the opposite of nokte. Jornesko `dawn.' Jornim `in the daytime.'

ELEKTRI adj electric, elektreso electricity, elektrisa, elektrifika, above, 137; elektriste electrician.

EME `aim,' EMA to aim at, EMO the act of aiming. Better than Ido skopo (from I: E scope does not mean exactly the same thing); ema serves also for Ido vizar.

FA `do' as the shortest common denominator of the forms derived from L facio; but fa creates difficulties: fo (fao) for the verbal noun - akto may generally be used instead; fere the one who does: better aktere; fabli feasible, conflict with sb fable is not dangerous; in most cases posibli will do, and on the whole these derivatives are not much needed. Other forms from L facio present even greater difficulties: fas-, conflict with fase `phase' (fasie `face'), cf. also fasade façade. Fak-: no existing national form has k; besides fake is wanted for D fach (`division, branch, province of action, department, field of knowledge'). Fakt- is wanted for `fact' (adj fakti D faktisch). So after all fa seems best for the verb; cf. I fa `he does,' fa-nno, fa-re, fa-rò.

FAINI adj E fine, D fein; the simple vowel i as in F, etc., creates conflict with fine.

FEMA `woman' by the side of homa: femal adj `female, feminine, womanly'; fematri `effeminate.' Fema-kolegie, fema-vestes, fema-votiste.

FERNI D `far, far away.' E far will not do, as faro = lighthouse.

FIKA, see p. 137.

FINE, fina end, finish, fino (act of) ending; finali. Independent of this finit(i) `finite' (which is not = `finished'), infinit(i) - but nonfinat unfinished. But with de- we must have the vb in -i: defini on account of definitione and definit.

FOGLE `bird' D vogel, E fowl (which in seafowl and fowler has the old meaning), Dan fugl, Sw fågel; better than Ido ucelo (I uccello; F oiseau is too far be of use) and Romanal ave, "which can be recognized by everyone" (Guérard), i.e. everyone that knows Latin, for others will rather think of Ave Maria; S P ave is rarer than pájaro, passaro.

FRISE `frieze'; no conflict with friso `hairdressing,' vb frisa; frisere.

HAMRE/A/O hammer D E Sc, more international than F marteau and congeners.

HUSE (or HAUSE) house E D Sc better than dom-, which both Esp, Ido and Occ have inherited from Volapük: in West-European languages this is found only with the meaning `dome' or `cathedral' and should be kept in that sense, though R has dom `house.'

ISLE `island' from S isla, I ísola, E spelling isle, D insel. Ido insulo has wrong accent. As a separate word vb isola with isolatione.

JUSTI just; the Ido distinction justa and yusta is arbitrary; vu es ye justum you are right. - jus just now (just then), a short time before now.

KAR(I) dear, i.e. cherished; cher(i) expensive; for `car' we have veture, chare, vagone. (Similarly Ido.)

KASE, KASU, above, p. 81; kasere `cashier,' kaseria `treasury'; kasual, kasuiste.

KONOSA `know': difficult to find other form for the largely divergent Romanic forms. But rekogni, -itione.

LANSE `lance'; lansa vb `launch,' F lancer.

LEFT(I) as Occ from E `left' instead of Ido sinistra (L), which has acquired other meaning.

LIA E D (Sc) `lie,' lieska lie down.

MASE mass; masu mace, F massue; mese mass (church celebration, D F Sc messe.)

MEDI middle, midmost; vb media mediate with participle mediat(i), and meditatione (medio). Medidi. The neuter medum would be different from mediume in the spiritualistic sense. Mid prep. amidst.

MEMORE `faculty of remembering,' memora vb, memoro `act of remembering'; memoratum; memorandum; memorim `by heart.'

MILITE/A/O war, milital, militari, militariste. Neither E war, F guerre, I, nor D krieg yields a good word.

MINE `mine,' mina `(under)mine'; no conflict with min `less,' minus. - Miene from E spelling `mien' (looks). Menase/a/o threat.

MORI `die,' morio `death,' i.e. the transition from being living to moriteso; morit `dead.' "Multi homes tima non moriteso, kel es nulum, ma morio." Memora mori. - Independent word mortal `mortal,' i.e. subject to death: morial would be what has reference to death; morisanti (tuanti) vunde `mortal wound.'

MUS must D E, preterit mused.

NOBLI: Z made a distinction nobla D edel, nobela D adelig, belonging to the nobility; this is difficult to remember; if a distinction seems necessary, we may take nobilito (-a, -e, -i) for the latter, with nobilitaro, nobilitisa confer nobility on.

OBJEKTE object (objektal or objektiv) `objective'); objete make objection to, object to, objetione. (Similarly Occ.)

OLD(I) E Sc `old'; Romanic languages yield no good word, and D alt is of course excluded, because alt(i) must mean `high, tall' (F I S, cf. E altitude.) Quam oldi es li infante? Le es nur (ye) un semani oldi. Ido creates a totally unnatural word evar `to be so and so old' from L ævum which does not mean that), probably because in F one cannot ask `Combien vieux?' or say `L'enfant n'est vieux que d'une semaine.' But there is nothing illogical in the terms here proposed in accordance with many national languages: we have corresponding expressions with all indications of quantity: we ask `How large is it?' even if it is only one millimeter, and `How long does it last?' even if it is only a fraction of a second. Those who are afraid of oldi in such combinations may use the expression mentioned above: li infante es ye un semane. For the sb age, F âge N has naturally aje.

ORDINE/A/O order (arrangement, etc.); ordinari. - ordra/o order (to tradesman, etc., D bestellen). - ordene (honour, decoration).

ORGAN; organal relating to or affecting organs; as a separate adj organik `having organs, belonging to the structure of animals and plants.' Organisme, organisa. For the musical instrument N has orgele (D Sc orgel, F orgue) with orgeliste `organist.'

OSA `dare,' F oser. Conflict with ose `bone,' F os, I osso, S hueso, is not dangerous, and there is no reason to take osto like Esp and Ido from Greek osteon. (Instead of osasi say audasiosi from sb audasie, F audace, I S audacia, etc.)

PASE peace (F paix, I pace, S paz), from which pasifiste, pasifisme; `pass' (go further than, etc., F passer) must be pasa with the verbal sb paso. Pace (F pas) is pasu (L passus), from which we may form vb pasua to step. Thus we distinguish Ido paco, paso, pazo: it should not trouble us that pasal may mean both `relating to peace' and `relating to the act of passing,' for the latter is hardly ever required; cf. also pasosi in two meanings.

PIESE piece (F piè, I pezzo, S pieza); to weigh is pesa (F peser, I pesare, S pesar).

POLI `polish,' participle, adj polit(i) polite. Polise `police,' polisano policeman.

PORTE `door'; porta `carry,' porto act of carrying; portu harbour.

RASE race (ethnological); rasa vb shave, raso shaving.

ROSE rose; rosie dew (F rosée, S rocio).

SEKU `follow': this form is best on account of perseku, proseku with -kutione; sekuent E sequent, I seguente, S siguiente. Konseku.

SELO zeal as verbal sb, sela be zealous; no conflict to be feared with sele cell, though selosi may be both zealous and full of cells. Or we might say selule (F, etc.) for `cell.' But for Ido selo (F selle, I S) we must take sadle from E saddle, Sc sad(d)el, D sattel. E seal (for letters) is sigle with verb sigla (D siegel, I sigillo, Sc segl). Ido has celar hide (F celer, not much used, I celare): it is better to take kasha from F cacher, supported by E sb cache.

SENTI `feel,' sentio. As independent words sentimente, sensa with sensatione, and sensu `one of the (five) senses,' but it will be difficult to delimit these words, cf. also persepte, emotione. E `sensible' in the ordinary sense is saji, prudent, rationosi. N.B. sento from sent 100.

SERO zero. (Serume serum.)

SERTENE, -O, -A, -I a certain (some particular, not specified); serti fixed, sure.

SIGNALE/A/O as independent word, though it looks like a regular derivative of signe.

SINKE zinc; no conflict with sinko the act of sinking, vb sinka, or with sink 5.

SOLI `only, alone'; suole `sole of foot or shoe,' I suola, S suela, D sohle.

SONE `zone' forces us to take suone for `sound,' I suono, F son; vb suona.

STEA `stand' D stehen. Standa be in a certain condition or state (health, etc.). Qualim vu standa? Li afere standa bonim = es in boni stando.

SUME sum, suma to sum (add together). The echo-word D summen (Ido zumar) is best made into huma, E hum, or sumba, S zumbar, zumbir.

TUA F `kill' better than morisa. L occidere, I uccidere gives no good form; kil- is impossible on account of kilo = kilogram.

UNI vb `unite' would not be formed regularly according to the N rules from the numeral un, and would lead to the bad form unitione. Therefore it is better to take the regular unisa and then unione as an independent word with verb uniona. (Unisati States, or Unionati States?)

VADA `go'. It is difficult to find a good word for this idea: Peano has i, which is rather short and is not good in the inflected forms; Occ has ear, but e is only found in some of the L forms, not in living languages; Esp iri, Ido irar takes the L infinitive ending into the root, which should be avoided; va from Romanic is not good as a full verb (the sb vo would be wanted more often than the corresponding fo); the other Romanic and Germanic stems al-, an-, and- and ge-, go- seem unsatisfactory. - vata `wade,', D waten.

VETRE `weather' (D Sc E) on account of the accent better than Ido vetero; similarly vintre `winter,' somre summer,' hamre `hammer,' vespre `evening,' arbre `tree,' (F I S always stressed on a).

VIOLE `violet' (flower); viola `infringe a law, rape a woman,' with sb violo, violatione. Independent violenti adj with violenteso.

VOSE `voice'. Voka `call' with voko, vokatione; vokali adj; vokale vowel as independent word.

YER `yesterday' as Occ from F spoken form of hier.