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Vortaroj

by Frakseno, September 20, 2007

Messages: 14

Language: English

erinja (User's profile) October 24, 2007, 1:04:18 AM

I recently learned that the Esperanto Society of Quebec has a small stock of new Wells dictionaries, from the last printing. I believe you can contact them about purchasing one.

There is a contact form at http://www.esperanto-montreal.org/en/kontakto

billpatt1942 (User's profile) November 6, 2007, 9:49:56 PM

Well, you had better not make a xerox copy of it. That's totally illegal. It would cost about 5 cents a page and you'll end up broke. Besides you can puchase a copy in the bookstore for ten cents a page, and support the author through royalties. Please don't take chances violating intellectual property laws by copying such a dictionary, or any other book. I know from experience, that you will feel guilty and sordid. Unless, of course, it is out of print.

BasCostBudde (User's profile) November 10, 2007, 9:33:49 PM

It may be infeasible to include all possible Esperanto words in a dictionary, but it isn't quite as necessary as with other languages as well, because of the great orthogonality of all those pre- and suffixes. Finding the root and the added morphemes really tells you what the word means.

Well, if you don't happen to have cut off the root incorrectly to begin with okulumo.gif

erinja (User's profile) November 11, 2007, 2:57:57 PM

It would not be possible to include all possible Esperanto words in a dictionary, and not very useful besides, because the majority of words would be things like "birdkanto" with a definition like "birdsong". "pordego" = "a large door or gate".

Learning where to draw the lines between root word, prefixes, and suffixes is a skill that comes with time. It seems difficult as a beginner, but once you have a deep enough familiarity with the prefixes and suffixes, they pop out at you when you look at a new word, even if you don't recognize the root, and it really becomes no problem at all. Of course a root may have "il" or whatever at the end, so even an experienced speaker may be confused for a moment, but in general it is a rare and minor problem.

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