I don't like the word nigra. It makes me cringe, especially when used to describe people. Check out this quote "...la nigraj sovaĝuloj tute false imagas etikon kaj moralecon..."
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I was thinking of a word to use instead. I know that there is no centralized authority that controls the usage of Esperanto, but maybe, as a community we should come up with an alternative.

I was thinking about using malluma or malhela. Although it sounds nicer, it is worse on a different level. It sounds like an idiom to describe ignorance.

Is there a good word to use? Is there a word for indigo?

What do you think?

There is no negative connotation associated with the word nigra in Esperanto - it is a neutral, descriptive word to describe colour, just like the Spanish negro or the Italian nero.

Its similarity to an English slur is unfortunate, but this does not make the Esperanto word offensive -- unless one uses it in a racist context.

Blanka and related terms are commonly used to refer to people with lighter skin (e.g., Caucasians); nigra etc. are similarly used to refer to people with darker skin. Cf. Vikipedio.

If it really bothers you, you can think of a workaround like malblanka, but this is really unnecessary. Malluma, malhela have bad connotations when applied to people (suggesting "uneducated", "depressed", etc.) and will not get you understood.

Perhaps the clearest, most descriptive term is nigrohaŭta, nigrohaŭtulo etc., but I don't think there is much precedent for it.

I think it's helpful to remember that Esperanto terms do not necessarily carry the nuances of their English counterparts - just as with any other language. For example, Americans will snicker at farti and peni, a Russian might giggle at tuj - but we're not dealing with English or Russian here. Esperanto words should be judged and interpreted by the language's own standards and precedents.

I have no problem with the word the way it is, and as far as I'm aware it has nothing in common with the racist slur in English. The Spanish word for the color black is quite similar, but they use a different word for dark-skinned people. I am not black, but I would say that if a large number of black Spanish speakers don't have a problem with their word then we shouldn't have a problem with ours.

See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/fired-for.... This is odd to me, since even the English word "negro" is not a derogatory slur; it is simply an outdated term that was replaced by "black" and then later by "African-American". In the case for Esperanto I see it like the similarity between "farts" and "fartas" (similarity does not mean it shares any meaning). We need to take care not to translate meaning or significance that does not exist in our target language. I suppose a better example would be the use of "gay" in English as a derogatory term to describe something. If I translate a sentence using that intended meaning into Esperanto then it is completely lost (only an English-speaker will understand it).

Tempodivalse:
I think it's helpful to remember that Esperanto terms do not necessarily carry the nuances of their English counterparts - just as with any other language. For example, Americans will snicker at farti and peni, a Russian might giggle at tuj - but we're not dealing with English or Russian here. Esperanto words should be judged and interpreted by the language's own standards and precedents.

Out of curiosity, what is funny about "tuj"?

kaŝperanto:Out of curiosity, what is funny about "tuj"?

If you replace the t with a ĥ, you get a popular Russian expletive.

I don't know if other Rusophones have made this connection. I, at least, tend to hesitate slightly before I pronounce the word, just to make sure I clearly produce the right consonant ...

Alkanadi:I don't like the word nigra. It makes me cringe, especially when used to describe people. Check out this quote "...la nigraj sovaĝuloj tute false imagas etikon kaj moralecon..."

So you personally for some reason don't like the word "nigra" and so the community should replace it. Srsly? C'mon ...

johmue:

Alkanadi:I don't like the word nigra. It makes me cringe, especially when used to describe people. Check out this quote "...la nigraj sovaĝuloj tute false imagas etikon kaj moralecon..."

So you personally for some reason don't like the word "nigra" and so the community should replace it. Srsly? C'mon ...

Well, let's be charitable ... I think it's normal to be a little uncomfortable when you encounter a word that sounds very similar to a long-standing and particularly notorious slur in your language.

I was a little unhappy with that word when I first started Esperanto, too - then I got used to it, especially since in languages other than English, there is no problem with it.

I studied Latin before I studied Esperanto. The Latin word for black is "niger" (carefully pronounced nee-gair in my high school Latin class), which I was definitely uncomfortable with, but learned to live with it. "Nigra" in Esperanto was hardly a problem compared to that. A person with black skin would most commonly be a "nigrulo" in Esperanto (also "blankulo" for 'white' people). Your cited passage is far more problematic, to me, for its use of "sovagxuloj" - that's the part of it that I was offended by, the association made between a skin color and a very derogatory description of the people. The color's name and its use to describe people are neutral in Esperanto.

By the way, I say this in spite of the fact that in an Esperanto event where we filled out cultural surveys, the survey asked what the most offensive word in your country is, and the other American and I chose the "n-word". Neither one of us wanted to pronounce it or write it down! So I get your sensitivities, but I think it's misplaced in this case.

Alkanadi:I know that there is no centralized authority that controls the usage of Esperanto

Errr, ever heard of the Akademio or the Fundamento? And guess what: nigr' is part of it.

kaŝperanto:I have no problem with the word the way it is, and as far as I'm aware it has nothing in common with the racist slur in English. The Spanish word for the color black is quite similar, but they use a different word for dark-skinned people. I am not black, but I would say that if a large number of black Spanish speakers don't have a problem with their word then we shouldn't have a problem with ours.

See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/fired-for.... This is odd to me, since even the English word "negro" is not a derogatory slur; it is simply an outdated term that was replaced by "black" and then later by "African-American". In the case for Esperanto I see it like the similarity between "farts" and "fartas" (similarity does not mean it shares any meaning). We need to take care not to translate meaning or significance that does not exist in our target language. I suppose a better example would be the use of "gay" in English as a derogatory term to describe something. If I translate a sentence using that intended meaning into Esperanto then it is completely lost (only an English-speaker will understand it).

something similar happens in mexican spanish the word "puto" (well) is a slur for refering to homosexuals but I don't think it needs to be changed just because here in Mexico that's what it means