What is the purpose of "mem" in the following sentence?
Arktischgeist,2015年1月5日の
メッセージ: 6
言語: English
Arktischgeist (プロフィールを表示) 2015年1月5日 16:56:56
"Ĉiu homo amas sin mem." Translated as "Every person loves herself (or himself.)
Why is mem used? Is "sin" not enough? Is it incorrect to say only "Ĉiu homo amas sin?"
nornen (プロフィールを表示) 2015年1月5日 17:01:44
Arktischgeist:I saw this sentence on Kurso de Esperanto:Why is mem used? For emphasis.
"Ĉiu homo amas sin mem." Translated as "Every person loves herself (or himself.)
Why is mem used? Is "sin" not enough? Is it incorrect to say only "Ĉiu homo amas sin?"
Is "sin" not enough? Syntactically it is enough, but apparently it was not enough for expressing the author's emphasis.
Is it incorrect to say only "Ĉiu homo amas sin? No, it is not incorrect.
vikungen (プロフィールを表示) 2015年1月6日 14:17:35
sudanglo:I would guess it would most often be used as washing themselves, but it could probably mean both things. In Norwegian we would say:
Question: does ili lavis sin mean ili lavis unu la alian or ĉiu lavis sin mem?
De vasker seg
Ili lavas sin
Totally similar, and at least here it would leave who is washing who ambiguous, but in most cases it would mean the latter. If I were to mean the former I would say, like you said: ili lavas unu la alian.
nornen (プロフィールを表示) 2015年1月6日 17:52:43
sudanglo:Whilst sin focuses on the recipient of an action, mem directs attention to agent.What has your post to do with the question?
Mem-amo - self-love; sin-ofero - self-sacrifice.
Question: does ili lavis sin mean ili lavis unu la alian or ĉiu lavis sin mem?
"mem directs attention to agent"?
La knabo staris respektege, kvazaŭ li staris antaŭ la reĝo mem.The mem refers to la reĝo and not to some agent (which you be li=la knabo if any).
Mem doesn't have anything to do with redirecting the reader's atterntion anywhere. It simple means "this one and no-one/nothing else". Cf latin ipse, German selbst, Spanish mismo, French même.