Al la enhavo

Dealing with words having multiple meanings.

de vikungen, 2014-novembro-14

Mesaĝoj: 2

Lingvo: English

vikungen (Montri la profilon) 2014-novembro-14 13:25:55

Sometime I came across words that had multiple meanings, and I understand that most of the times you will understand from the context what the word means, but not always. I found it a little strange when I after having created subtitles for this Game of Thrones clip found out that the word I used for baby/little crow/raven "korveto" (from korvo + -et-) also meaning corvette. Another example of this I have seen is kolo (neck) + -eg- meaning both "large neck" and colleague.

Anyone else got more examples of this? Any idea why this was not thought of when creating words in Esperanto?

EldanarLambetur (Montri la profilon) 2014-novembro-14 13:32:23

It most likely was thought of, but as any language grows the issue begins to arise unless you cripple the language by making all the words so long that this couldnt possibly happen. Especially in a language where you can shove almost any word or affix together.

As you say, context will most likely differentiate. But they are also a source of humour, as you may know:

Kial ĝirafo neniam estas sola? Ĉar ĝi havas kolegon!

Reen al la supro